Mississippi State
5-8
Mississippi Valley State
1-9
MSU Volleyball Splits Friday Matches At Bulldog Invitational
September 20, 2014 | Volleyball
STARKVILLE, Miss. – Looking to bounce back from Thursday's setback to North Dakota, the Mississippi State volleyball Bulldogs split a pair of matches on Friday to close out day two of the 2014 Bulldog Invitational.
State opened the day with a sweep of Mississippi Valley State, but fell in a tightly-contested four-set battle with SIU-Edwardsville in the Friday finale.
For the first time in program history, the Bulldogs faced off against MVSU, dominating from start to finish to earn a 3-0 victory. The Bulldogs never allowed the Devilettes to reach the 20 points once in the match, as the visitors only scored as many as 16 in a set.
MVSU would play it close early on in the first set, but the Bulldogs would turn on the jets and breeze to a 25-12 opening set win. The second spelled much of the same, as MSU used a 9-1 run to take the second frame by the same score as the first, 25-12. State would leave no room for doubt in the final set, as it would cruise past the Devilettes to take it 25-16, and the match, 3-0.
MSU's afternoon sweep was the product of a combined Bulldog effort across the board. State was paced by Alex Warren, Leticia Valente and Emily Howard in kills, all turning in nine for the match. Chelsea Duhs followed with eight of her own, while Bali Leffall-Young tallied seven. The setter duo of Shelby Anderton and Katlyn Mataya both earned 20 assists a piece against MVSU.
Defensively, Payton Harris led the Maroon and White with 23 digs. Howard and Leffall-Young both led MSU in blocks with four each.
State's second match came against the SIU-E Cougars, which was also a first for the Maroon and White. The two teams put on a back-and-forth battle for the entire match, with both teams cracking the 20-point mark in each set.
The first set saw both sides trade punches, with SIU-E holding a slight upper hand. The Cougars remained in the lead for the entire set after MSU jumped up 4-3 early on. The Bulldogs would keep the frame within three until the very end, when the Cougars used a 4-1 run to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Despite dropping the opening set, MSU would fire back in the second. After another hard fought battle throughout a majority of the frame, the Bulldogs used a Harris ace, kills from Duhs and Howard and a raucous Newell-Grissom crowd to seal it, 25-22, and tying the match at a set a piece.
The third set proved to be the most intense of all played in the match, as another battle to the end broke out between the two teams. State would fight off a late Cougar set point, but ultimately dropped the frame, 26-24, giving the visitors a 2-1 lead in the match. Friday's final frame looked to be solely in favor of SIU-E until the Bulldogs mounted one last rally to stay in the match. Using a 6-0 run, MSU pulled within one, but would come no closer, as the Cougars pulled away to take the set, 25-21, and the match, 3-1.
Warren led the Bulldogs in kills in the nightcap, turning in 14, one short of tying her career high. Harris finished the night with an impressive 40 digs against the Cougars, marking the most she has tallied since setting the SEC single-match record last weekend with 59. Mataya, with 22 assists, and Leffall-Young, with three blocks, rounded out the stat sheet for the Maroon and White.
MSU returns to action tomorrow night to close out the 2014 Bulldog Invitational. State will take on Pacific in the tourney's final match at 7 p.m. CT. The match will be broadcast on the SEC's digital platform, SEC Network +.
For more information and updates on Mississippi State volleyball, fans can follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at HailStateVB.
