Mississippi State
Georgia
Georgia Blanks Vball Bulldogs In Athens
October 23, 2009 | Volleyball
- Official Statistics
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ATHENS, Ga. - Solid play at the net Friday night helped lift Georgia (12-9, 3-7 SEC) to a straight-sets win (25-19, 25-16, 25-22) over Mississippi State (5-17, 1-10 SEC) at the Ramsey Student Center. Erika Clark and Briana Bahr combined for 24 kills and Bahr teamed with Ann Dylla for 12 blocks as Georgia completed the two-match series sweep of MSU.
Senior Ioana Demian recorded a team-best 10 kills while Ashley Newsome added eight kills and Caitlin Rance seven.
But it was at the net where Georgia was most dominant, amassing a 10-3 advantage in total team blocking. Newsome had a solo stop and an assisted block to lead MSU.
Newsome and Caitlin Rance had three kills each and five other State players delivered point-producing swings in the opening set when MSU held a 12-11 edge in kills. Consecutive kills by Newsome drew State to within a point at 17-16. But UGA had three fewer attack errors in the set and parlayed a four-point advantage at the serving stripe and 4-1 edge in team blocking to pull away for a 25-19 win.
Georgia reeled off seven of the first eight points to open the second set and never trailed in a 25-16 win that sent the homestanding Bulldogs to intermission with a 2-0 match lead. UG limited State to nine kills and .053 hitting in the stanza while Erika Clark and Briana Bahr combined for nine of hot-hitting Georgia's 16 kills.
After falling behind 4-1 in the third set, the Bulldogs, riding the solid offensive play of Demian, battled back into contention. Demian nailed a kill that knotted the score at 10-10, and a UG ball handling error gave State its first lead of the set at 11-10. In the closely-contested set, MSU twice built out three-point leads, the second on a kill by Rance that put MSU up 19-16. But Georgia stormed back, pulling even at 21-21 and closing out the set and the match with a 4-1 run and a 25-22 win.
Junior Kayla Woodard paced MSU on defense with 16 digs.
Mississippi State continues its two-match SEC weekend road trip Sunday at Auburn, Ala., with a 1:30 p.m. match against surprising SEC West foe Auburn (13-8, 5-5). The Tigers, currently in second place in the SEC West, registered a straight-sets home win Friday night over instate rival Alabama.
