Bulldogs Drop SEC Opener to Gamecocks

Friday, September 21

Columbia, S.C.

6:00 PM

Mississippi State

4-10, 0-1SEC

South Carolina

10-1, 1-0SEC

Mississippi State

South Carolina

MSU falls to South Carolina in its conference opener on Friday.

Bulldogs Drop SEC Opener to Gamecocks

September 21, 2018 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

by Mary Catherine Molay, Graduate Assistant

COLUMBIA, S.C. - In its first nationally televised debut of the season, Mississippi State succumbed to South Carolina in three.

Mississippi State (4-10) fell to South Carolina (10-1) 25-17, 25-22, 25-18.

"Tonight was a tough one," head coach Julie Darty said. "I thought we had some bright spots, and that we did a good job with parts of our game plan. Overall, the execution just wasn't there. We put Paige back on the outside, and she did a nice job offensively and defensively for us. We have to take care of our side, and I know we need to manage errors and just take care of the ball. I want to see how we grow and respond from this. We need to get over this hump and find a way to play a solid match full of effort and execution."

The match started off as the Bulldogs struggled against a strong Gamecock front. South Carolina was able to push ahead to 7-4 after a handful of kills, and they stayed on top for the remainder of the set. A kills battle ensued as there were only five attack errors throughout the whole set. Despite their valiant effort at the net, Mississippi State fell to South Carolina after a service ace. MSU hit .321 compared to South Carolina's .441. Taylor Haskins led the team with four kills and a .500 hitting percentage. Kendall Murr had four of the team's 13 digs.

Set two started with a slow start for the Bulldogs, as South Carolina went up 8-1 after five straight points on errors. After Darty huddled with her team during a timeout and rallied her troops. From there, MSU also benefited from errors and some strong hits to get back into the set, 22-20. The Bulldogs dropped the set after three kills from the Gamecocks secured its win. Haskins led the team again with three kills, and Murr had four more digs. Deja Robinson had two kills and two blocks. Both teams had 15 digs.

Mississippi State got off to a slow start, but the team was able to catch up and trail by one after multiple South Carolina errors, 6-5. Set three deemed to be the most competitive of the match, as the Bulldogs communicated well with one another on the court. South Carolina's attack game was too much for the Bulldogs, as the Gamecocks went on to take the match.

To cap off opening weekend, Mississippi State travels to the Sunshine State to face No. 11 Florida. The match is set to begin at 12:30 p.m. CT on the SEC Network+.

Dawg Bites from Friday

Paige Shaw had nine kills, two digs and two blocks
Haskins had eight kills and seven digs
Morgan Kath had 26 assists
AJ Koele (.333) and Robinson (.375) both had four kills
Murr had 15 digs
With the battle of the net, Mississippi State had 6.0 blocks to South Carolina's 5.0

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