MSU Drops Sunday Matinee at Tennessee

Sunday, October 7

Knoxville, Tenn.

12:30 PM

Mississippi State

5-13 (1-4SEC)

Tennessee

14-4 (5-1SEC)

Mississippi State

Tennessee

Deja Robinson tallied nine kills against Tennessee on Sunday.

Photo by: Blake Williams/MSU Athletics

MSU Drops Sunday Matinee at Tennessee

October 07, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

by Mary Catherine Molay, Graduate Assistant/Communications

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.- Despite the many relentless rallies, Mississippi State fell to Tennessee in three on Sunday.

The Lady Vols defeated the Bulldogs, 25-22, 25-23, 19-25.

"I thought we could win the serve and pass game," head coach Julie Darty said. "I thought our middles did a nice job following the game plan and our setters finding them and using them to be efficient. They did a really good job at handling a really big load. We out blocked them ten to seven, which was nice to see. As a whole our defense needs to improve, but I think we are making adjustments and improving in the right direction."

Mississippi State started off the match with a 2-0 lead after an error by Tennessee and a kill by Amarrah Cooks. Shortly thereafter, Tennessee went on a six-point stint to push ahead 7-3. Gabby Zgunda's back-to-back service aces helped to get Mississippi State's momentum back, as they tied the set at 8. The Lady Volunteers took advantage of errors by Mississippi State to push ahead to set point at 24-17. The Bulldogs went on to rally to score five straight points, but came up short as Tennessee went on to wen the set on a kill. Cooks and Deja Robinson had three kills apiece. Paige Shaw had one kills, one service ace and and three digs.

The Bulldogs started off the set benefiting from errors by the Lady Volunteers to take the 7-3 lead. Tennessee countered with a four point rally to tie the match at nine. UT's swing was dominant as eight kills were tallied to give Tennessee the 19-15 lead. Mississippi State showed focus and went on a five-point streak off of Tennessee errors to lead, 20-19. It was a battle until the end as both teams were fighting with relentless effort. Mississippi State lost some of its communication to allow Tennessee to come back and win the set. Robinson had six kills and three blocks. Paige Shaw and Zgunda both had four digs.

Tennessee came out and took the early 5-1 lead. The points scored had a pattern of going back-and-forth between the two teams throughout most of the set. Mississippi State struggled to control its own errors as well as Tennessee's offense. Even with the four-point rally toward the end at 18-16 to catch up to Tennessee, Mississippi State gave up too many errors and struggled to stop UT's attack game. The Lady Vols went on to take match. Cooks had three kills and Shaw had one service ace. Robinson contributed three block assists.

For the fourth week of SEC play, Mississippi State travels to Fayetteville to face Arkansas on Friday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. They finish up the weekend against Missouri on Sunday, Oct. 14 at home at 1 p.m.

Dawg Bites from Sunday

Robinson had nine kills, a .300 hitting percentage and 8.0 blocks
Cooks had six kills, one dig and two blocks
Shaw had five kills and two service aces. She also had eight digs
Murr led the team with 10 digs
Zgunda had six digs and two service aces

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."