Mississippi State
9-8,3-5SEC
Arkansas
14-6,4-4SEC
Dawgs Sweep Razorbacks on Sunday
October 27, 2024 | Volleyball
STARKVILLE – The Mississippi State Bulldogs won their second consecutive game, as they picked up a sweep over the Razorbacks on Sunday. This was the first Bulldog sweep in SEC play this season.
"It was a great week for the Dawgs," head coach Julie Darty Dennis said. "We talked about how it's going to be hard and how we should embrace it, and our team stayed in it. It's incredible to watch a group of people come together and work hard for a common goal. I'm just proud of this team."
With 12 tied scores in the first set, the Bulldogs were able to pull ahead to win 25-23 on an Arkansas attacking error. State was able to keep the momentum in the second set, winning 25-21 and setting the Bulldogs up for the sweep. With only one lead change in the third set, State took the 3-0 victory on a Kailin Newsome kill.
For the third match in a row, Karli Schmidt has had double-digit kills. She had a team-best 16 kills collecting eight of those in the first set. State is 5-3 when Scmidt hits for double-digit kills.
The SEC hitting percentage leader, Arissa Smith, hit .611 with 11 kills against the Razorbacks. This marked the sixth time this season that Smith has hit above .500 with double-digit kills. State is 5-1 in games where she does such. Amina Shackelford picked up nine kills in the contest. Newsome and Rebecca Walk both tallied six kills.
Ceci Harness picked up her fourth double-double of the season and 20th of her career with a team-best 36 assists and 12 digs. She also collected a season-high two service aces.
McKenna Yates tallied a team best and career-high tying 19 digs, marking the third-straight game that she has tallied double-digit kills. Mele Corral-Blagojevich also finished with double-digit kills for the second straight game, as she finished with 12.
The Bulldogs are back on the road next Sunday in College Station, Texas to face the Texas A&M Aggies. The match is set for 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on SECN+.
Quoting Karli Schmidt
On the secret to swinging so well lately...
"I think we're just really working hard on defending our home court. We take a lot of pride in the work that we put in all week long so it's a good win. We feel really good about it."
On where the team is right now as they get ready to face these next opponents...
"We're ready for the grind. It's going to be a long week in practice, but we know that we have big games ahead of us. We respect every single one of our opponents in this conference, it's a very tough conference to play in. We're looking forward to the competition."
Quoting Arissa Smith
On her great season from a consistency standpoint...
"As a team, we have great ball control. Ceci [Harness] gets me the ball high, and I feel like that has been helping and working a lot recently. If I'm able to reach above the blockers, it's harder for other teams to defend."
On turning the corner and what it's like in practice now...
"What we're working on in practice is really translating onto the court right now. We're not letting anything go. Even though we were up by 10 points, I think we still were aware we needed to put our foot on the gas and finish it."
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