Mississippi State
Auburn
State Nips Auburn 3-2 To Complete First SEC Weekend Sweep
October 14, 2007 | Volleyball
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STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State earned its first two-match SEC weekend sweep of the season at the Newell-Grissom Building Sunday, but the team's fourth win in its last five matches over the Tigers in Starkville didn't come easily.
The Bulldogs, after rolling to wins in the first two sets, needed five games register their third win in league play this season and their second of the weekend. MSU (8-11, 3-7 SEC) prevailed 3-2, winning 30-23 and 30-27, bowing to Auburn 30-23 and 30-23 in games three and four before putting the two-hour, 15-minutes match away with a 15-11 win in the deciding fifth set.
"It wasn't pretty at times, but we managed to regroup in that fifth game to get the win over an Auburn team that battled to the end," said fourth-year MSU head coach Tina Seals. "This was a good way to finish the first half of our conference schedule. Hopefully we'll be able to build on the success we had this weekend to finish strong this season.We had some good individual efforts and solid team play, which is what you need to compete successfully in the SEC."
Junior outside hitter Cristina Jucan, held to a season-low five kills in State's 3-1 Friday night win over Georgia, paced Mississippi State against Auburn with 18 kills. Jucan totaled seven kills in the first two sets and managed but one post-producing swing over the next two stanzas when Auburn battled its way back into the match. But Jucan came through with three big swings in game five, including one that broke an 8-8 tie and gave MSU a lead it would not lose the remainder of the afternoon.
Her 18 kills matched a season-best 18-kill effort earlier in the season against Ole Miss. She also tallied 13 digs to record her team-best 10th "double-double" of the campaign.
Senior Jamie Joyner followed up a strong 16-kill, one error showing against Georgia with 14 kills in the Sunday win over Auburn. Ioana Demian came off the bench to contribute 10 kills to record her fourth straight double-figure kill. Four of Demian's kills came in game two when the Bulldogs piled up 20 kills and hit a sizzling .436.
Erin Seago had four blocks and six kills on a .455 hitting performance while State's other senior middle, Lauren Kowal, had five kills and four blocks. State fashioned a match-leading 10-9 edge over Auburn in total team blocks.
The Tigers were led by Jelena Sekulic, who shared match honors with Jucan with 18 kills. Rachel Shanks followed with 16 kills, Whitney Jacob with 14 and Jessica Glover with 14. Jacob took match honors with eight blocks, including two solos. Jacob sparked Auburn's comeback, nailing five kills and a pair of blocks in both the third and fourth sets of the match.
The Bulldogs used a 5-0 run to pull away from an 8-8 deadlock in the third game and scored four of their next six points on Auburn attack errors before Demian ended the game and match with her 10th kill of the afternoon.
State finished the day with 12 aces, its second-highest single-match total of the season. Jennifer Hauskey and Megan Lukasek led the way with three each.
Mississippi State resumes SEC competition on the homecourt this weekend against a pair of SEC Eastern Division teams. State hosts Tennessee (8-9, 3-7 SEC) Friday at 7 p.m. and then welcomes Kentucky (16-5, 7-3 SEC) to the Newell-Grissom Building Sunday at 1 p.m. for a regionally-televised match shown on FOX Sports Net South.
