Mississippi State
9-8 (4-4SEC)
Auburn
9-9 (3-5SEC)
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Auburn | 22 | 25 | 25 | 20 | 11 | 2 |
| Mississippi State | 25 | 23 | 18 | 25 | 15 | 3 |
Rance Powers State To Five-Set Win Over Auburn
October 09, 2011 | Volleyball
It was the third consecutive five-set Sunday win for the Volleyball Bulldogs, who with 12 league matches remaining have already surpassed their 2010 mark for SEC wins. State has now won three of its last four matches.
The Bulldogs claimed the opening set 25-22 and, after Auburn gained momentum in the match with 25-23 and 25-18 wins in sets two and three, battled back to win the match with 25-20 and 15-11 decisions in the final two stanzas.
"Caitlin was simply awesome," said MSU head coach Jenny Hazelwood of the standout senior from Kingwood, Texas. "All of our opponents know that she's our go-to player and she continues to find ways to lead the team. She had another incredible weekend (46 kills/22 digs/.307)."
With the Bulldogs trailing 2-1 in the match and 15-11 in the fourth set, Rance went to work, reeling off five kills and a block as State out-pointed Auburn 14-5 down the stretch to force a deciding fifth set. Rance had 10 of MSU's 23 kills over those final two sets.
Rance backed her personal-best 26 kills with 14 digs for her eighth double-double in 2011 and the 23rd of her career. Today she moved ahead of Brianne Smedley (1997-2000) for 10th place among MSU's career kills leaders and with 975 is closing in on becoming the 10th Bulldog to reach the 1,000-kill career milestone.
Auburn scored the first two points of the fifth set before State went to work, taking control with a 6-1 run sparked by a pair of kills and a block by freshman middle blocker Lainey Wyman. MSU extended lead to 13-9 and, with a crisp match-best .409 attack percentage, salted away the win with a 15-11 decision. Wyman registered 14 kills, hit .357 for the match and paced MSU at the net with five blocks. Steinwedell had 13 key kills and 14 digs to notch her second double-double of the season.
"Faith (Steinwedell) and Lainey (Wyman) were outstanding and HP (Hillary Parker) just missed a career-best mark for digs," Hazelwood continued. "We had so many contribute today, and we needed them all to beat a good Auburn team."
MSU lead Auburn 68 to 62 in kills, .249 to .228 in hitting and 77 to 72 in digs. The Tigers commanded control at the net with a 15-8 advantage in total team blocking.
State's junior libero Hillary Parker recorded a match-leading 27 digs, one shy of matching a personal-best.
A quartet of Tigers reached double figures in kills. Courtney McDonald and Kelly Fidero registered 13 each. Camila Jeronsky added 11 on 25 error-free attacks while Sarah Bullock finished with 11 and backed that on defense with 18 digs.
Mississippi State resumes its home stand this weekend, hosting Kentucky (16-3/7-1 SEC) in a 7 p.m. Friday night "Maroon Madness" match at Humphrey Coliseum and SEC-leading Tennessee (15-2/8-0 SEC) in a 1:30 p.m. match at the Newell-Grissom Building.
