Mississippi State
10-13 (5-9SEC)
LSU
15-8 (8-5SEC)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LSU | 15 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 15 | 3 |
| Mississippi State | 25 | 28 | 24 | 15 | 11 | 2 |
LSU Rallies To Claim Five-Setter From MSU
October 30, 2011 | Volleyball
"We did a lot of good things early in the match," said third-year MSU head volleyball coach Jenny Hazelwood. "But when you get that close you've got to find a way to finish. Our youthfulness got the best of us at times today. We've got to keep working hard and keep learning from matches like this."
Caitlin Rance, honored in pregame ceremonies for having recently joined MSU's elite 1,000-kill club, delivered 22 kills and with 11 digs and notched her team-leading 10th double-double of the year. Rance also enjoyed a career-best performance at the net with three solo blocks and five total blocks, helping the Bulldogs claim a 14-8 advantage in total team blocking.
But it was the only statistical edge for State. Madie Jones had 18 kills and Michele Williams added 16 more on a .324 hitting performance to help spark the Tigers to team leads in kills (70-51), attack percentage (.177-.160) and digs (69-53).
The Bulldogs hit a match-best and romped to an easy 25-15 win in the opening set. Three consecutive kills by Hannah Wilkinson during a 5-0 Bulldog run staked State to an early lead it would not relinquish. The second set featured three lead changes and 10 tie scores, but the Bulldogs prevailed, overcoming a 24-21 LSU lead and a trio of Tiger serves at set point before finally claiming the win and a 2-0 match lead at intermission with the help of a pair of LSU attack errors.
The final October match of the season match seemed to turn on an LSU comeback win in the third set. State jumped out to a 4-1 advantage and rode a five-kill effort by Rance to a 23-20 lead. The Tigers scored the next three, tying the score at 23-23 on a service ace by Helen Boyle. Boyle's next serve went awry, giving the Bulldogs a 24-23 advantage and a serve at match point. The Tigers, however, reeled off the next three points with a pair of kills and a block to keep the match alive with a closely-contested 26-24 win.
The Tigers built on that momentum shift in the fourth setting, putting together a 10-0 run midway int he period that led to a lopsided 25-15 match-evening LSU win. Jones single-handedly out-pointed the Bulldogs in the frame, tallying six kills to the Bulldogs' four.
State's Dani McCree came off the bench to deliver a pair of kills in the fifth set and the tandem of Rance and Lainey Wyman combined for a block that knotted the score at 10-10. But LSU ended the match with a 5-1 spree, wrapping up the two-hour affair with a pair of kills by Jones.
Hannah Wilkinson hit .417 and tallied 11 kills, all coming in the first three sets, while Lainey Wyman finished with 10 kills. Wilkinson, Wyman and Faith Steinwedell finished with four blocks each.
Hillary Parker paced MSU on defense with a match-high 15 digs.
LSU setter Malorie Pardo reached double-double status with 55 assists and 10 digs.
A pair of freshmen made their initial SEC starts for the Bulldogs. Setter Rachel Williams totaled 43 kills and seven digs while Sarah Temperilli added five digs.
The Bulldogs hit the road for their next four matches, testing nationally-ranked Kentucky (21-4/12-2 SEC) in Lexington Friday (6 p.m.) and SEC-leading Tennessee (20-3/13-1 SEC) in Knoxville Sunday (12:30 p.m.).
