Mississippi State
Georgia
Dawgs Feisty But Fall Short Against Georgia, 3-1
October 19, 2008 | Volleyball
? Official Statistics
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Georgia scrambled for a 26-24 third set win over Mississippi State Sunday afternoon and went on to register a closely-contested 3-1 SEC volleyball victory over State (6-14, 1-8 SEC) in a regionally-televised match at the Newell-Grissom Building. The win was the fourth straight and fifth in the last six matches for Georgia (12-9, 5-5 SEC). The teams swapped lopsided sets in the early going of the match. Georgia blitzed State 25-12 in the opening stanza with MSU one-upping UGA with a 25-11 runaway to even the match at the break. The match settled into a close duel the remainder of the afternoon, with Georgia pulling away from a 24-24 deadlock for a 26-24 win in the third set and then used a 5-1 run late to salt away the match with a 25-21 decision in the fourth set. "I'm proud of the way our players rebounded from a poor showing in the opening set and then challenged a good Georgia team the rest of the way," said State coach Tina Seals. "Every weekend is a learning experience for our young team. This weekend showed that we've got to learn how to finish our matches." "Ioana (Demian) stepped up and played well for us today, and Ashley Newsome gave us solid play at middle," she continued. "We made some adjustments and got over the jitters of playing on television after the first set and were competitive against one of the hotter teams in our league. Service errors (14) really hurt us again today." For the second time in as many matches this weekend, the Bulldogs dropped a 26-24 decision in the third set. And for the second consecutive match, State went toe-to-toe with a favored league foe. The Bulldogs bowed to LSU 3-1 Friday in a match that saw 13 MSU service errors. Sunday, Demian tallied a match-high 14 kills while Newsome, on a .500 hitting day, registered 10 with five blocks. Georgia led State 41-39 in kills and .136 to .125 in hitting percentage while State claimed an 8-7 edge in total team blocking. Freshman Faith Steinwedell backed her six-kill performance with four assisted blocks and freshman Mandy Mellencamp added three. Kayla Woodard paced the Bulldog defense with 12 digs. Georgia got 12 kills from Erika Clark and 10 from Maria Taylor, while Valentina Gonzalez recorded seven kills and a team-best four assisted blocks. In one of its more impressive sets of the season, State rebounded from a 25-12 drubbing in the opening stanza for a match-tying 25-11 blowout in the second set. The homestanding Bulldogs never trailed in the set and put together a pair of impressive 6-0 runs to match Georgia's biggest loss in a set this season. But mistakes hounded State at key points the remainder of the match, including six crucial service errors in the closely-fought third set. State hits the midway point of its 20-match SEC schedule this weekend when the Bulldogs entertain Kentucky Friday (7 p.m.) and Tennessee Sunday (1:30 p.m.).
? Official Statistics (PDF)
