MSU Falls In Three To No. 14 Cal Poly

Friday, September 14

Denton, Texas

3:00 PM

Mississippi State

4-8

Cal Poly

8-1

Cal Poly

Mississippi State

MSU falls to No. 14 Cal Poly in three on Friday.

Photo by: Blake Williams/MSU Athletics

MSU Falls In Three To No. 14 Cal Poly

September 14, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)

by Mary Catherine Molay, Graduate Assistant

DENTON, Texas - During the second day of the North Texas Challenge, Mississippi State fell to No. 14 Cal Poly in three.

Mississippi State (4-8) lost to No. 14 Cal Poly (8-1) 10-25, 20-25, 23-25.

"That was fun," head coach Julie Darty said. "Cal Poly is a super talented team, and I can see why they are ranked fourteenth, but our Dawgs put up a fight today. After we got through that first set we just played volleyball. We let it all go and we just got after it. I am so proud of the team for responding to a new line up and new personnel out on the floor like they did - it did not matter who was on the floor, we just played. The Dawgs grew up today and took a step in the right direction. I hope we can replicate the product we put out there today and be the same team tomorrow."

Mississippi State struggled against Cal Poly's attack game to start the match. The Mustangs went on to win the set, 25-10. Amarrah Cooks, Khristian Carr, Taylor Haskins, Laura Rose Gray and AJ Koele all had one kill.

The Bulldogs came out with more energy, which led to a more competitive set. Toward the earlier half of play, the score was neck-and-neck between the two. Cal Poly then went on a six-point streak to push ahead 14-9. Mississippi State kept it competitive, but were unable to surpass Cal Poly's lead. The Mustangs closed the set with a kill. Koele had three kills and a .600 hitting percentage. Haskins and Kendall Murr had three digs each. Deja Robinson had three blocks.

Three straight errors by the Mustangs led the Bulldogs to a 3-0 lead to start the third set. It was similar in nature to the second set as it was close between the in the middle. While tied at 15, Mississippi State went on a 4-0 scoring streak to lead 19-15. A timeout by Cal Poly rallied its troops to then tie the score again at 19. At this point, the Dawgs went on a back-and-forth lead change. At match point for the Mustangs, the Bulldogs benefitted from a service ace and a kill to move up 24-23. The momentum was cut short as Cal Poly went on to take the set. Cooks had four kills and three blocks. Haskins and Murr both had three digs. MSU led with 3.0 blocks to CPU's 1.0 blocks.

MSU closes out the weekend against Stephen F. Austin a 3:30 p.m. tomorrow. This is the sixth meeting between the two.
Mississippi State vs. Stephen F. Austin - Saturday, Sept. 15 at 3:30 p.m.

Live Stats: https://hailst.at/2x23YPZ

Dawg Bites from Friday

Cooks had seven kills and four blocks
Koele had five kills
Murr led the team with eight digs
Haskins and Morgan Kath both had two service aces
MSU won the battle at the net with 8.0 total blocks, while Cal Poly only had 7.0

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."