Mississippi State
4-4
Baylor
7-2
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mississippi State | 25 | 21 | 25 | 25 | 3 |
| Baylor | 21 | 25 | 19 | 20 | 1 |
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MSU Volleyball Tops Baylor, UTEP For MCM Elegante' Invitational Title
September 10, 2011 | Volleyball
BEAUMONT, Texas - Mississippi State rallied to overcome a 2-0 deficit to claim a 3-2 win over Texas-El Paso Saturday and claim the championship of the two-day MCM Elegante' Invitational hosted by Lamar University. The win (22-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-16, 15-9) over the Miners (9-2) completed a three-match weekend tournament sweep for the Bulldogs (5-4), who have now won their last four matches.
"I am so very proud of this team and the way they fought through so many things today," said third-year MSU head coach Jenny Hazelwood. "We intentionally scheduled some tough pre-conference tournaments so that we'd face difficult situations, and the kids showed some mental toughness in beating two very fine teams today."
State opened the day with a 3-1 win over the Baylor Bears (7-2).
Senior outside hitter Caitlin Rance, who finished the weekend with 66 kills (5.50 d/g), 25 digs and eight blocks, was selected tournament MVP. MSU's two middle blockers, freshman Lainey Wyman and senior Hannah Wilkinson joined Rance on the all-tournament team.
"Caitlin was a player on a mission," said Hazelwood. "And her success opened up some things for a lot of other players. Lainey and Hannah had the kind of weekend we hoped to see. When the middles are producing, it puts a lot of pressure on the opponents."
Wyman had 38 kills, hit at a .351 clip and delivered 11 blocks. Wilkinson tallied 25 kills, hit .500 for the weekend and delivered 14 blocks.
The Bulldogs stayed close with UTEP through much of the early going of the match, tied at 22-22 in the first set and 23-23 in the second set. In both instances, the Miners, riding the 23-give performance of Bridget Logan, muscled through for close wins.
But State turned it around in the third set, hitting .265 and never falling behind in taking a 25-21 win. The Bulldogs, with eight kills by Rance and four kills and four blocks by Wyman, bolted to a 4-1 lead in the fourth stanza and then out-pointed the Miners 9-1 down the stretch to even the match with a 25-16 win. That momentum carried over in the deciding fifth set as State pulled away from a 9-9 deadlock with a 6-0 run to claim the tournament title.
Rance shared match honors with her second straight 23-kill effort and her fourth straight 20-kill performance. It raised her SEC-leading kills total to 164 after nine matches. Wyman delivered a season-high 17 kills backed with a season-best tying nine blocks while junior outside hitter Chanelle Baker registered her second double-double with 13 kills and 11 digs. Wilkinson finished with nine kills on an efficient team-leading .368 hitting display and backed that with six blocks. The offense was engineered by sophomore setter Paris Perret, who reached a career-best with 60 assists and notched her fourth double-double when she added 10 digs. Freshman libero Bentley Witte topped the Bulldogs on defense with 15 kills.
In Saturday's opening match, four Bulldogs reached double figures in kills as Mississippi State turned back Big 12 Conference foe Baylor 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 25-19, 25-20).
Rance led the charge and notched her team-leading fourth double-double of the campaign with 23 kills and 12 digs. It was the second-highest career kills total for Rance.
But the Kingwood, Texas, product had plenty of support in the win against the Bears.
Hannah Wilkinson tallied a career-best 12 kills with no errors in a .667 hitting display that included a match-leading six blocks. Freshman Lainey Wyman also totaled a dozen kills and hit a crisp .476 while Faith Steinwedell chipped in 11 kills and three blocks. Sophomore setter dished out 53 assists while freshman libero Bentley Witte led the Bulldog defensive effort with 14 digs.
State was most impressive in winning the matching-clinch fourth set. State piled up 21 kills and hit a match-best .436. The Bulldogs did not trail \after a kill by Rance broke a 9-9 deadlock.
Baylor hit .286 for the match and got 14 kills from Briana Tolbert and 13 more from Adri Nora.
Mississippi State opens SEC competition at the Newell-Grissom Building next weekend, playing host to No. 7 Florida Friday (7 p.m.) and South Carolina Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
