Mississippi State
Auburn
Tigers Turn Back VB Bulldogs On SEC Opening Night
September 18, 2009 | Volleyball
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STARKVILLE, Miss. - Auburn spoiled the SEC coaching debut of Mississippi State's Jenny Hazelwood Friday night, registering an impressive straight-sets win (25-21, 25-19, 25-15) win over the Bulldogs (4-8, 0-1 SEC) on opening night for league volleyball competition. The loss ended MSU's run of four consecutive home court wins over the Tigers.
State bolted to a 12-7 lead in the opening set before the Tigers (9-3, 1-0 SEC) came to life, knotting the score at 12-12 on a kill by Morgan Johns and again at 18-18 before cruising home to a 25-21 decision. A pair of kills by Kellye Jordan sparked State to a 7-3 advantage in the opening moments of the second set. But a collision between junior middle blocker Ashley Newsome, the team's leader in kills and blocks, and freshman setter Hilary Parker, the team's assists leader, proved costly, sending both players to the bench. The Tigers' Sarah Bullock delivered seven kills, most of them in the later stages of the stanza, to lift Auburn to a 25-19 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Bulldogs stayed in contention in the early stages of the third set, taking a 10-9 lead on a kill by Faith Steinwedell and pulling even at 11-11 on another kill by the sophomore outside hitter from California.
But Auburn used a 7-1 scoring spree to take control of the match and rode a seven-kill performance by Katherine Culwell in the set to a match-clinching 25-15 win.
For the night, Auburn got 11 kills from Culwell and 10 more from Bullock. But junior libero Liz Crouch might have contributed most to the Auburn victory, piling up 31 digs, the most by an SEC player this season.
State got eight kills from Kellye Jordan and six from Newsome, who did not return to the match after sustaining an upper leg injury. Her status for Sunday's match with Georgia is uncertain. The Bulldogs were held to a season-low 25 kills and their second-lowest hitting percentage (.050) of the season. SEC digs leader Kayla Woodard paced MSU defensively with 11 digs while sophomore Leanna King, in her first start of the season, finished the night with six digs.
State surpassed the 400 mark in attendance for the fourth time this season when 414 fans, the eighth-largest gathering in 13 seasons of volleyball at the Newell-Grissom Building, braved monsoon-like weather conditions to attend the SEC opener.
The Bulldogs continue SEC competition and close out their six-match home stand Sunday, playing host to the Georgia Bulldogs (8-3, 0-1 SEC) in a 1:30 p.m. match at the Newell-Grissom Building. Georgia dropped a 3-0 decision (29-27, 25-14, 25-15) at Alabama Friday night.
