Bulldogs Open With Sweep In Dallas

Friday, August 25

Dallas, Texas

12:30 PM

Mississippi State

1-0

SMU

0-1

MISSISSIPPI STATE

SMU

Mississippi State opened its 2017 campaing with two wins on Friday.

Bulldogs Open With Sweep In Dallas

August 25, 2017 | Volleyball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 SMU Box Score Corpus Christi Box Score

DALLAS – In a Friday double-header to open the season at the SMU DoubleTree Invitational, the Mississippi State Bulldogs were impressive with two wins.

After rallying to upend SMU 3-2, MSU came back and held on to beat Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 3-2.

State showed a lot of hustle, grit and confidence during the two games, which ultimately led to the success on the court.

"We had two good wins today against two very good opponents who have been doing really well in their conferences the past two years," third-year coach David McFatrich said. "Both have won their conference titles and gone to the NCAA tournament. They are both very well-coached teams. There were some adjustments both teams made that we had to adjust to, and our kids made a good job at adjusting to the changes."

The first game of the season started off against the SMU Mustangs. State had some difficulty with communication in the first set, as the Mustangs won 25-20. McFatrich's team would then go on to win the next two sets due to a kills battle, scoring 25-23 and 25-21, before losing the fourth game 25-21.

The fifth set proved to be the most challenging for the Bulldogs, as both teams went back and forth the whole match. Neither team was more than three points ahead of the other. Multiple kills by Sara Maddox and Jelena Vujcin helped lead the Bulldogs to victory, winning 27-25.

"The fifth game against SMU in the first match, I don't remember being in a game like that ever as a player or a coach," McFatrich said. "27-25 in the fifth game is almost unheard of, and we had several instances where it could have gotten away from us, but our kids kept battling. I think the coolest takeaway is that we stayed together and persevered."

Maddox completed the game with a total of 25 kills, a .396 attack percentage and 25.0 points. Behind her was Vujcin with 19 kills and 22.5 points. They were the key players in helping the Bulldogs defeat SMU, 3-2.

Despite only having less than two hours to rest before game two, Friday's final match against Texas A&M Corpus Christi was very exciting for the Bulldogs. While errors were the deciding factor in set one, Vujcin's five kills and six points helped to put the Dawgs over the top to win, 25-23.

During set two, kills were another major factor as Vujcin had four and Maddox, Laura Rose Gray and Khristian Carr had three kills a-piece. Gray's .750 attack percentage also helped to allow the Bulldogs to cruise to a 25-12 victory over the Islanders.

Set three was the most exciting of the night, as the two teams battled it out and kept the score close the entire time. As the teams fought back to keep themselves on top, there was a lot of excitement from both sides. However, TAMU CC won the match after another kills duel, 28-26.

During set four, kills helped to push the Islanders over the top. MSU earned 11 and TAMU CC earned 17. Unfortunately, MSU could not rally back and was defeated 19-25.

The match deciding set five was determined by both kills and digs that helped MSU win the game.

Vujcin led MSU with overall kills on the day with 42, while freshman Gabby Zgunda had a career high of 40 digs. Junior setter Morgan Kath had 114 sets on the day.

The Bulldogs also beat both opponents in total team blocks, averaging 8.0 during both games.

Opening weekend will continue Saturday as Mississippi State returns to Moody Coliseum to play Rice at noon CT.

For more information on Mississippi State volleyball, follow the Bulldogs on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "HailStateVB." You can also find all-access coverage of the program on SnapChat by searching for "HailStateSnap."