Comeback Complete For Volleyball In Oxford

Sunday, October 17

Oxford, Miss.

2:00 PM

Mississippi State

14-5,5-2SEC

Ole Miss

13-5,2-5SEC

Mississippi St.

Ole Miss

Photo by: Ole Miss Athletics

Comeback Complete For Volleyball In Oxford

October 17, 2021 | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

by Matt Dunaway, Director/Communications

OXFORD, Mississippi – Facing two match points in the third set and a 20-16 deficit during the fourth set, Mississippi State's volleyball team dug deep to showcase its resolve and dial up a 3-2 gritty comeback victory over Ole Miss [25-27, 16-25, 30-28, 25-21, 15-10] on Sunday afternoon at the Gillom Athletics Performance Center.

The win vaulted the Bulldogs (14-5, 5-2 SEC) to their second RPI top 50 victory over the last five days and into a fourth place tie with Arkansas in the SEC standings. The 5-2 start continues the best league start in program history and also marked State's third consecutive victory over the Rebels (13-5, 2-5 SEC).

"This is a fun one, it's a state championship," head coach Julie Darty Dennis said. "You could feel the rivalry in the building. It was intense in there. To pull a reverse sweep like this at their place is pretty fun. I never ever gave up on this group because I know what they're made of. I know they're tough and extend volleyball play as long as they can, especially in an away gym."

"They gutted it out," Dennis continued. "It was a career performance by Gabby Waden, it was unbelievable. We did ride on her shoulder for a bunch of production. Everybody else stepped up. It was really cool to see everybody get some opportunities, a lot of people got time today. We got the job done. I could not more excited and proud of my group."

There were plenty of special performances for the Maroon and White.

Gabby Waden pulverized a career-high 31 kills, Lauren Myrick collected 13 kills in her return to the lineup, Margaret Dean dished out a career-best 36 assists and Lilly Gunter added 17 digs coupled with a spotless 37-for-37 mark in the serve-pass game.

Waden pounded her 24 of her 31 kills over the final three stanzas, ignited by 10 kills on 11 swings during the pivotal third set. The 31 kills are the most by a SEC player during a conference match this season. She has smacked 10-plus kills in all seven SEC matches, fueled by 15 or more in six of her seven SEC outings.
Waden hammered home her 31 kills on an efficient 44 swings en route to a blistering .591 hitting percentage and tacked on a trio of blocks.

"I definitely think Margaret did an excellent job of feeding me the balls," Waden said. "We were communicating about what we both needed from each other. That definitely made a difference. Lilly Gunter was making some extremely great plays. She was digging everything, and she's the backbone of our defense. I know Margaret is always going to try 150 percent to give me great balls. I'm incredibly blessed for that."

Dean distributed 36 assists and 10 digs to tuck away her fourth double-double of the season, while Gabby Coulter came away with 24 assists and seven digs. The 60 combined assists also are a SEC season's best for setters if Dean and Coulter were running a 5-1 offensive system.

"They [the setters] worked their tails off," Dennis said. "We're asking them to do a lot of things, especially in a 6-2 [system] where teams are going to target our defense when we are out of system. For them, they play with a ton of heart. They play with a lot of fire. They want to do really good and put up sets that people can kill. They do that. I have always talked about they are very different. There's a difference between Margaret [Dean] and Gabby [Coulter], but they go out there and get their job done in those three rotations. They compete like crazy, and they put us in a really good position to be successful."

Myrick nearly collected a double-double of her own with 13 kills, nine digs and two blocks, while Callie Minshew tallied nine kills and four digs.

MSU's middles, Sania Petties and Deja Robinson, teamed up for 13 kills and five blocks. Jessica Kemp popped six kills on a .312 hitting clip off the bench.

Lilly Gunter camped out for 17 digs and matched her season-high with eight out-of-system assists from the back row. She extended her run to 10 straight matches with double figures in digs.

Trailing 24-22 during the third set, the Bulldogs stayed alive on a Minshew kill. Then, an Ole Miss attack error knotted the score at 24-24. The two teams went back-and-forth for the next eight points. Deadlocked at 28-28, Waden brought the Maroon and White to the finish line with a powerful kill through the block and a crosscourt spike to extend the match.

Once again, Mississippi State saw itself on the brink down 20-16 in the fourth stanza. Myrick tooled the block with her left hand for a sideout kill. She put together an impressive service run as the Bulldogs ripped off seven consecutive points to surge ahead 23-20. Waden threw her superhero cape on by sequencing together a tip kill, a crosscourt kill over the block and a down-the-line kill.

Waden paired with Robinson for a block and completed the flurry ending a long rally with another spike off the block. A Gunter ace brought the Maroon and White to a 25-21 triumph, which forced a decisive fifth set.

"Everybody was producing," Dennis said. "I know early on I felt like we were getting the middles involved a lot more in first ball. At clutch times, the outsides were putting balls away in out of system weird situations. I was super proud of everybody's resolve and response. We were not going to go down without a fight. When we started fighting, the tide started to turn. It was a really fun one, everybody stepped up. We talk about it all the time – just do your job really well and good things will happen. I thought every single person owned their job responsibilities, and they got the job done as a team."

Mississippi State carried that momentum and blitzed the Rebels to a 7-2 start during the winner-take-all fifth set. Waden stayed en fuego with four more kills, and Gunter cranked another critical ace.

Ole Miss got as close as three points on three occasions, the latest at 10-7. The Bulldogs calmly closed the match out with two more Waden kills, two Ole Miss hitting miscues and a Myrick kill. In fitting fashion, it was Waden who went crosscout to clinch the 15-10 victory.

The Rebels snuck out to a two-set advantage with 27-25 and 25-16 decisions. Ole Miss wiped away three set points of its own in the opening frame.

"[Starting the SEC season] 5-2 is definitely a great feeling, especially being with this program for so long and actually seeing the impact that we're all making," Waden said. "While being here, we have all bought in and making sacrifices to be where we are. We're definitely taking it one game at a time and one practice at a time. We're just trying to get better each other and be ready for our next opponent."

The Bulldogs will complete a stretch of five of seven matches at home to start October. State will play host to Texas A&M for a weekend series on October 23-24. Admission is free for all home volleyball matches with gates opening one hour prior to first serve.

Visit www.HailState.com for the latest news and information on the volleyball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets by searching 'HailStateVB' on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.