Mississippi State
Ole Miss
State Tops Ole Miss 3-2 For First SEC Win Of Hazelwood Era
October 09, 2009 | Volleyball
- Official Statistics
- Official Statistics (PDF)
OXFORD, Miss. - Mississippi State ended a 25-match SEC losing skid in dramatic fashion Friday night, turning back instate rival Ole Miss in five sets and handing first-year State volleyball coach Jenny Hazelwood her first career SEC coaching win.
The Bulldogs, 5-13 overall and 1-6 in league play, topped UM 3-2 (25-21, 22-25, 22-25, 25-21, 15-12). Ole Miss moved to 6-11 and 0-7 in conference play.
"I'm so very proud of our total team effort tonight," said Hazelwood. "We were very balanced on offense, and that's something we've been working hard on all year. We were very solid on defense tonight, and that was a huge factor in tonight's win. We won the serving game tonight with five aces and just three errors and kept Ole Miss out of system quite a bit.
"It's great to fight so hard and come out on the winning side. We've had so many close sets and close matches this year, so to finally pull one out on the road against your biggest rival makes it extra special. Tonight it was a matter of two teams battling as hard as they could. Ole Miss played hard and fought for every point like we knew they would."
State placed four players in double figures in kills, with Ashley Newsome, Caitlin Rance and Kellye Jordan tallying 13 kills each and Faith Steinwedell adding 11. Steinwedell added a career-best 18 digs for her second double-double of the year. MSU claimed a 70-69 advantage in digs, with junior libero Kayla Woodard totaling a match-high 21.
The Bulldogs also enjoyed a 12-8 advantage in total team blocks. Newsome registered eight blocks (two solos and six assisted blocks), while setter Dorey Gray backed her 33 assists with a career-best five blocks.
Katie Norris and Caitlin Weiss combined for 40 of Ole Miss' 68 kills. Norris has a match-high 21 kills with 10 digs and Weise registered 19 kills with 17 digs.
State claimed the upper hand early in the match, hitting a sizzling .394 and never trailing in taking a 25-21 win in the opening set. A Faith Steinwedell kill gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead of the set at 17-11 and State, helped along by four UM service errors, cruised to the opening set win. Kellye Jordan paced MSU in the stanza with a four kills in as many attack attempts.
UM pulled away from a close battle in the second set to even the match with a 25-22 win. Caitlin Weiss, after registering six kills in the first set, added five more to lead the Rebels. State's offensive efficiency fell off dramatically, with the Bulldogs piling up nine hitting errors and cooling off to a .116 hitting mark. Steinwedell and Jordan led the Bulldogs with four kills each in the set.
In another closely-contested set, the Rebels rode the hot hand of Weiss for a 25-22 win and 2-1 match lead. Solid play at the net helped the Bulldogs stay close, with Steinwedell and Newsome registering a pair of blocks each. Newsome registered five of the Bulldogs' 14 kills. State pulled even at 9-9, took a 16-15 lead on a Rebel setting error and fought off a trio of set point serves by UM before bowing 25-22. Weiss reached double-double totals for the match in the set, adding six kills and three digs.
The Bulldogs extended the match to a fifth set with a gritty performance in a 25-21 win. After falling behind 4-1, the Bulldogs surged back into contention, taking a 5-4 lead on a kill by Jordan, tying the score at 10-10 and 12-12 and then reeling off six straight points for an 18-12 advantage. UM answered with a 6-0 run of its own to knot the score at 18-18 before Ioana Demian ended the run with a kill.
The Bulldogs then scored five of the last six points in the fourth set to send the match to a deciding fifth set.
In set five, Ole Miss took an early 3-1 lead on kill by Miranda Kitts. But State out-pointed Ole Miss 7-2 to take an 8-5 edge at the break.
State then built the lead out to four at 10-6, fought off a UM surge that cut the lead to a single point at 13-12, and then salted the set and the match away on back-to-back kills by Demian and Steinwedell.
"It would be impossible to single any one player out tonight, because it truly was a team victory. Ole Miss is a tough place to play. They draw well in a confined area, but we did a great job of not letting that effect us at all," said Hazelwood. "And for me, it's a little sweeter to get my first SEC coaching win on the road against Ole Miss."
The Bulldogs continue their SEC weekend road trip in Fayetteville, Ark., taking on the Arkansas Razorbacks Sunday in a 1:30 p.m. match at Barnhill Arena.
