MSU Falls in Four To Aggies on Sunday

Sunday, November 18

Starkville

1:00 PM

Mississippi State

5-24 (1-15SEC)

Texas A&M

15-13 (8-8SEC)

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Texas A&M	19	25	25	25	3
Mississippi State	25	19	14	22	1

Amarrah Cooks tallied 11 kills for a .524 hitting percentage.

Photo by: Blake Williams/MSU Athletics

MSU Falls in Four To Aggies on Sunday

November 18, 2018 | Volleyball

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by Mary Catherine Molay, Graduate Assistant/Communications

STARKVILLE- Closing out the 2018 home season, Mississippi State (5-24, 5-15 SEC) fell to Texas A&M (15-13, 8-8 SEC) in four on Sunday (Nov. 18) in Newell-Grissom Building.

The Bulldogs fell to the Aggies in four, 25-19, 19-25, 14-25, 22-25.

"Super proud of the effort today, I felt that the first set was very cathartic for us to really gut it out and put our heart out there," head coach Julie Darty said. "We got one set win as we finish our home slate at Newell-Grisson. I'm super proud of this team, a match like this where it is a difference of a slug fest in the net. The defenders were digging a lot of balls. Our middles are doing a great job of caring us offensively and defensively. I really want to see a more well distributed offense with our pins caring a bigger load. Gabby [Zgunda] was lights out again, she had another big match. We just switched the jerseys to her and I am really proud of her effort. We are still peeking and still figuring out who we are. The good news is that we have two more matches and we are still getting better every single day."

A kill by Deja Robinson started the match for Mississippi State. The Bulldogs capitalized on five Texas A&M errors to lead 9-3 before forcing an Aggie timeout. Texas A&M developed more communication after the timeout and went on a eight-point stint to take the lead, 13-12. MSU countered with a streak of its own going up four points off of two errors and kills from Robinson and Paige Shaw to regain the lead, 16-13. For the latter half of the set, MSU capitalized on five errors and its own powerful defense to push ahead to take the set off of a service error by the Aggies. Shaw had three kills and one block. Amarrah Cooks and Robinson each had two kills. Offensively, the Aggies had 12 errors in the set compared to MSU's 5.

The Aggies were the first on the board before it was a close battle between the two squads. A kill by Cooks tied the score at four. Five of the next six points went in AM's favor as they extended the score to 9-5. The lead was too much for Mississippi State to come back from as the Aggies took advantage of MSU errors and service aces to take the set, 25-19. Cooks inked four kills for a .800 hitting percentage. Gabby Waden had three kills, while Morgan Kath had 10 assists in addition to her two kills.

The start of set three featured a 6-1 lead by Texas A&M. After an attack error by the Aggies, Mississippi State had four of the next five points with a AM error and kills by Robinson, Taylor Haskins and Waden to make the score 7-5, Aggies. MSU struggled to stop Texas A&M from the service line as five service aces were tallied. The Aggies went on to take the set, 25-14. Kath had three kills while Robinson and Waden each had two.

The Bulldogs took the 2-0 lead to start the fourth set. After Texas A&M tied it up at 2-all, MSU went on a four-point streak off of two kills from Cooks and one from Waden with an attack error from the Aggies to lead 6-2. Seven total errors from both sides allowed the score to become tied at 12. The Bulldogs were able to regain the lead after a kill by Cooks and three errors by Texas A&M put the score at 16-13, MSU. The events thereafter became neck-and-neck as there were eight ties and one lead change during the whole set. Ultimately, Mississippi State struggled to stop Texas A&M's attack game as the Aggies went on to win the match and set, 25-22. Cooks had four kills for a .500 hitting percentage and one block. Robinson and Waden had two kills. Gabby Zgunda tallied four digs.

Mississippi State closes out the 2018 season next week traveling to Auburn (Nov. 21) and Georgia (Nov. 23). First serve from Auburn Arena is set for 7 p.m. on the SEC Network +.

Dawg Bites from Sunday

Robinson tallied one total block. That puts her in 5th place for most total blocks as a freshman with 81. She is 11 blocks away from equaling Nicole Palazzo (2005) with 92.
Robinson tallied one solo block. That puts her in 3rd place for most solo blocks as a freshman accompanying Michelle Whitby (1986) with 22. Robinson is one away from the No. 2 spot and tying Theresa Hurley (1994) with 23.
Cooks had 11 kills for a .524 hitting percentage as well as three blocks.
Kath had dive kills, 32 assists and six digs
Stamatis notched the only service ace of the day for the Bulldogs
Waden had eight kills and two blocks
Zgunda tallied 18 digs

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