Mississippi State
9-10 (5-5SEC)
Tennessee
16-3 (9-1SEC)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tennessee | 25 | 25 | 28 | 3 |
| Mississippi State | 19 | 18 | 26 | 0 |
No. 18 Tennessee Downs MSU Volleyball
October 16, 2011 | Volleyball
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State came up short in its bid for back-to-back wins over nationally-ranked SEC volleyball opponents Sunday, dropping a 3-0 decision to the Tennessee Lady Vols at the Newell-Grissom Building. In winning 25-19, 25-18 and 28-26, UT improved to 16-3 overall and a league-best 9-1 in Southeastern Conference competition. After Friday's straight-sets win over No. 25 Kentucky, the Bulldogs, 10-9 overall, closed out the first half of their 20-match SEC schedule with a 5-5 league mark.
"Our focus wasn't what it was in Friday night's big win over Kentucky," said MSU coach Jenny Hazelwood. "But whenever you hold a team as talented as Tennessee below the .200 mark in hitting, you have to feel like to you've competed pretty well on defense."
Riding the 13-kill, 12-dig performance of Kelsey Robinson, the Lady Vols controlled play early in the match. Robinson, honored as the AVCA National Player of the Week last week, delivered 10 of her 13 kills in the first two sets. UT set the tone early on, hitting at a match-best .343 clip in the opening stanza and taking a 2-0 match lead at intermission without ever falling behind.
Despite a match-high 13 attack errors, Mississippi State held its own in a see-saw third set battle. Senior middle Hannah Wilkinson drilled four kills in the stanza and Dani McCree came off the bench to deliver back-to-back kills that put State at set point 25-24. But the Vols, in their third try at set point, got a game-winning swing by Carly Sahagian to end the match at 28-26 win.
Seniors Caitlin Rance and Wilkinson along with freshman Lainey Wyman had seven kills each to account for 21 of Mississippi State's 31 kills. The Bulldogs matched their season-high with 28 attack errors, leading to a campaign-low .025 attack percentage. Tennessee amassed a 10-7 lead in total team blocking, with freshmen Stephanie Stoll and Tiffany Baker, younger sister of MSU junior Chanelle Baker, sharing match honors with five blocks apiece.
Rance, held to single digits in kills for just the third time this season, eclipsed the 300 mark in kills for the season (302) and raised her career kills total to 997. She needs three kills to become the 10th player in MSU volleyball history to reach the 1,000-kill career milestone.
Junior libero Hillary Parker led State on defense and took match honors with 19 digs. With four blocks, Wyman raised her season total to 76 blocks, second-most in the SEC and second-most all-time among MSU freshmen.
"This was a big weekend for us competing against two of the better teams in our conference," said Hazelwood. "We know we have to continue to work hard to get better each time we play. But I like our position right now --- we're 5-5 in the conference heading into the second half of the SEC season with some great opportunities to move the program forward in the weeks ahead."
Mississippi State, now 1-1/2 games behind SEC West leader LSU, resumes SEC play on the road this weekend with a Friday night match at South Carolina (10-9/1-8 SEC) and a Sunday afternoon battle at No. 13 Florida (15-3/8-1 SEC).
