MSU Falls to Ole Miss 3-1 on Sunday

Sunday, October 21

Oxford, Miss.

1:30 PM

Mississippi State

5-17 (1-8SEC)

Ole Miss

12-11(2-7SEC)

Mississippi State

Ole Miss

Bulldogs Drop Matinee to the Rebels, 3-1, on Sunday (Oct. 21).

Photo by: Blake Williams/MSU Athletics

MSU Falls to Ole Miss 3-1 on Sunday

October 21, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

by Mary Catherine Molay, Graduate Assistant/Communications

OXFORD, Miss.- Despite taking the first set, Mississippi State (5-17, 1-8 SEC) fell to in-state rival Ole Miss (12-11, 2-7 SEC) on Sunday (Oct. 21) in Gillom Athletics Sport Center.

Mississippi State fell to Ole Miss 25-18, 21-25, 18-25, 18-25.

"I'm really proud of our execution effort and energy in that first set, it was nice to come out hot and really strong and follow our game plan like we did," head coach Julie Darty said. "I thought we needed to get our middles going early and we did that, but we kind of let off the game plan in terms of getting the middles as many balls as we did. I think we've always got to focus on the serve and pass game. Overall, there was some bright spots for us and there was some growth and there was some good, good stuff to build off of, but is this one that we were really focused on. I thought we had a good game plan, and it just didn't go our way today."

Mississippi State came out with a lot of intensity to start the set. The Bulldogs quickly took the 9-4 advantage after five-straight points off of kills and two service aces by Taylor Haskins. Ole Miss was able to rally back some, but the rest of the set was all MSU after capitalizing on seven Rebel errors. The Bulldogs hit .333 in comparison to the Rebels' .233. Amarrah Cooks led the team with five kills and a .714 hitting percentage. Deja Robinson had three kills, one service ace and two blocks.

The second set got off to a slow start for the Bulldogs as Ole Miss pushed ahead to a 3-0 lead. The Maroon and White struggled to stop Ole Miss's serving game as _ service aces were collected. Toward the latter-half of the set while trailing, MSU rallied back from a six-point deficit off of two kills by Shaw and one from Robinson to get back into the set, 18-13. The Rebels went on to win off of two Bulldog errors, 25-21. Shaw had six kills with two assists and blocks. Khristian Carr came out swinging and notched five kills.

Ole Miss took control of the third set early as the Rebels went on a 7-1 lead. Mississippi State responded by being vigilant of Ole Miss errors to get back into it at 8-7, Rebels. Ole Miss found another six-point stint, but MSU responded with kill by Carr, Morgan Kath and Shaw to make it 17-13. The rally was not enough as Ole Miss went on to take the set. Carr had three kills, while Kath, Robinson, Shaw and Gabby Waden had two kills each. Haskins led the team with four digs.

To start the fourth set, the Bulldogs were missing some communication as Ole Miss went on to lead 4-1. MSU responded by scoring three-points in a row off of kills by Shaw and an attack error to tie at 4. Shortly thereafter, Ole Miss capitalized on Maroon and White errors to go on a five-point stint, 11-6. Despite the rally, the Rebels went on to take the set and the match, 25-18.

Mississippi State is back in action at home this Wednesday, Oct. 24, against Arkansas. The match will air live from Newell-Grissom Building on the SEC Network at 7 p.m.

Dawg Bites from Sunday

Carr notched 12 kills
Cooks had 11 kills
Robinson tallied 8 kills
Shaw had 14 kills
Robinson registered two solo blocks. That places her in fifth place for most solo blocks as a freshman with 19. She is two away from the fourth spot held by Jennifer Shupe.
Kath tailed three kills and 21 assists
Kendall Murr had 18 digs
Alleah Stamatis got her fourth double-double of the season with 17 assists and 10 digs.

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