Mississippi State
South Carolina
Gamecocks Power Past Error-Prone Bulldogs 3-1
September 30, 2007 | Volleyball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Junior outside hitter Cristina Jucan registered a match-high 15 kills and her sixth "double-double" of the season Sunday afternoon, but it was not enough to carry Mississippi State past South Carolina in SEC volleyball competition at the Newell-Grissom Building.
State, with 36 hitting errors and a season-low .054 hitting percentage, fell short in its bid for a school-best third straight win over USC, dropping a 3-1 decision (30-19, 26-30, 30-28, 30-27) to the Gamecocks (8-7, 1-5 SEC). State recorded its second two-match series sweep of South Carolina last year. The win was the first of the season in league play for USC.
Jucan delivered her first kill of the match and an ensuing USC hitting error gave State an early 6-5 lead in the opening set. But the Gamecocks reeled off six straight points to take control of game one and, with the aid of nine Bulldog hitting errors and four State misfires at the service line, breezed to an easy 30-19 win in the first stanza.
State staged a rally of its own to pull even in the match in game two.
After trailing 12-6, State surged back into contention. Jucan led the charge with five kills in the set. Eva Kriegel and Erin Seago combined on a block that gave MSU its first lead of the match at 19-18, and the Bulldogs, who hit at a match-best .208 clip, fended off the Gamecocks for a match-tying 30-26 win in game two.
MSU threatened to overtake USC in the third game, getting four kills from Jucan and leading throughout much of the set. A kill by Ioana Demian tied the score at 28-28 before USC put the set away with a point-scoring swing by Ivana Kujundzic and a Bulldog hitting error, 30-28.
The Bulldogs fell behind early in the deciding fourth game, trailing by as many as seven at 20-13. After USC standout Belita Salters left the match with an ankle injury, the Bulldogs rallied to close the gap to a single point at 27-26 on a USC attack error and again at 27-26 on Erin Seago's seventh and final kill of the match. State's rally was snuffed out on a kill by Meredith Moorhead that moved USC to match point and a Bulldog hitting error that ended the match and State's bid for a win in its final match of September.
Reserve sophomore outside hitter Ioana Demian tallied eight kills and both Eva Kriegel and Seago added seven kills each for State. The Bulldogs held their own on defense, matching USC in digs with 75. In addition to Jucan's 18, double figure totals were also registered by Megan Lukasek (16), Eva Kriegel (15) and Jamie Joyner (14).
But the Gamecocks placed four players in double figures in kills en route to a 61-53 edge in the category. Salters and Megan Laughlin delivered 13 each while Kujundzic had 12 and Moorhead 11. Kujundzic finished with 17 digs and Laughlin paced USC at the net with five total blocks, including two solos.
A pair of senior Bulldogs moved up the ladder in two of MSU's career statistical categories. With her 16 digs, Lukasek, the Bulldogs'
libero, climbed past Jennifer Shupe into third place in career digs with 1,278. And senior setter Eva Kriegel served up two of MSU's six aces Sunday, pushing her past former MSU standout Rachel Cooper into ninth place in career aces with 130.
Mississippi State returns to SEC Western Division competition in the coming weekend, traveling to oxford, Miss., Friday for a 7 p.m. match with instate SEC rival Ole Miss before venturing on to Baton Rouge, La., for a 1:30 p.m. match at 22nd-ranked Louisisna State.
