Mississippi State
8-4, 0-1SEC
Ole Miss
8-3, 2-0SEC
Bulldog Rally Falls Short In SEC VB Opener At Ole Miss
September 19, 2010 | Volleyball
The Rebels (8-3, 2-0 SEC) used a balanced offensive attack to dominate early play at take a 2-0 advantage at the break. State (8-4, 0-1 SEC) kept the match alive with a 25-23 win in the third set and rallied from an 18-8 deficit before bowing 27-25 in a closely-contested fourth stanza.
“We dug ourselves into a big hole early on and again in the fourth set,” said Bulldog head coach Jenny Hazelwood. “But I am proud of the way our kids fought back. We came back from the break to take the third set and in that fourth set pulled even after trailing by 10. We're learning with each match, and hopefully we'll build on today's match.”
The match wrapped up a run of eight consecutive matches away from home for the Bulldogs, who return to action at the Newell-Grissom Building this weekend. State hosts SEC West rival Arkansas Friday (7 p.m.) and defending SEC champion LSU Sunday (1:30 p.m.).
Junior outside hitter Caitlin Rance paced the Bulldogs with 16 kills and added 10 digs for her fifth double-double of the year. Senior middle blocker Ashley Newsome registered 11 kills on a .290 hitting afternoon and finished with seven total blocks.
Hazelwood also singled out the play of sophomore middle Mandy Mellencamp, who registered a season-best nine kills with a career-high six total blocks. Mellencamp recorded three kills and a pair of blocks in the fourth set. Making her fifth start of the season, Mellencamp has returned from an early season 2009 knee injury that curtailed her sophomore season.
Whitney Craven registered a match-high 17 kills to lead a foursome of Ole Miss players with double figure kills. The balanced offense also included 12 kills by Miranda Kitts and 10 each by Regina Thomas and Allegra Wells.
Senior libero Kayla Woodard finished with 12 digs to pace the Bulldogs defensively. She raised her career digs total to 1,110, climbing past State head coach Jenny Hazelwood into eighth place among MSU's all-time career digs leaders. Hazelwood tallied 1,107 digs in four seasons (1996-1999).
Another Bulldog senior, middle blocker Ashley Newsome, also climbed MSU's career charts. With four assisted blocks and six total blocks, Newsome has climbed past Brianne Smedley (1997-2000) into fourth place with 260 career assisted blocks and to fifth with 321 total stops.
