Friday, September 17
Starkville
6:00 PM
Mississippi State
1
vs
3
Syracuse
Volleyball Topped By Syracuse In Four
September 17, 2021 | Volleyball
by Matt Dunaway, Associate Director/Communications
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State's volleyball team fought off a pair of match points during the fourth set and nearly erased a two-set deficit before Syracuse escaped with a four-set decision [23-25, 18-25, 25-12, 26-28] to start the Hail State Invitational on Friday at the Newell-Grissom Building.
The Bulldogs (7-3) connected for 52 kills and a .227 hitting percentage. Mississippi State secured a 9-6 advantage in blocks and a 41-32 edge in digs over the Orange (9-1).
The match had a six-minute delay due to a power surge caused by weather midway through the third set. There also was an inadvertent whistle that came from the stands during match point.
"This was a weird match," head coach Julie Darty Dennis said. "We flipped a bunch of stuff in set three, and we started a little bit different than we normally do. I like the energy that the team brought out. I thought that we were a tougher and grittier team during that third set. We just have to find ways to be that team from the third set all the time. Callie and Francesca responded really well under pressure off the bench and competed really well for their team."
"Then, in that fourth set, I thought we were super tough," Dennis continued. "We responded after being down by five points at one point. We talked in the timeout about how someone's going to have to get tough, and I thought they really did. We fought tooth and nail to the very end. I felt like we were going to push it to five sets, and I thought that if we did, we were tiring them out. So, it would have been beneficial for us, in my opinion."
Lauren Myrick slammed 17 kills on a .382 attack percentage. She has knocked 10-plus kills over five of her last six appearances. Myrick also added five digs, one block, one ace and posted a perfect passer rating on 24 attempts.
Gabby Waden tallied eight kills and four blocks, while Callie Minshew fired in seven kills, five digs and was a perfect 25-for-25 on reception attempts over her two sets off the bench.
Lilly Gunter came away with 19 digs and two assists. She has reeled in 10-plus digs in eight of 10 matches this season. The 19 digs tied her fourth-highest career output.
State's setters, Gabby Coulter and Margaret Dean, combined for 41 assists and eight digs.
Deja Robinson added four kills and six blocks, whereas Francesca McBride provided three kills, two blocks and two blocks in her two frames off the bench.
"Lauren has established herself to be a very reliable player for us," Dennis said. "She hits super hard, she finds ways to score and that's the beauty in her. Her serve is super aggressive. She's a kid that I never have to talk to about giving me her best effort. She's always on, she's always reliable and I think that's something that our team needs more of. I'm excited for her level of play. I want to start rallying the troops around her and get more of that on the floor."
Syracuse took sets one and two by 25-23 and 25-18 margins, respectively. The Bulldogs got rolling behind a McBride kill to start set three. State stretched it to 11-5 on a Waden kill and pushed it to 16-6 as Minshew took advantage off an Orange overpass. The Maroon and White closed out the 25-12 decision on a McBride crosscourt kill.
The fourth set featured 11 ties and five lead changes. The Bulldogs wiped away match points courtesy of Myrick kills at 24-23 and 26-25. However, Syracuse answered with a sideout spike and an ace after an inadvertent whistle from the stands to close out the 28-26 decision.
Mississippi State takes on South Alabama (Saturday – 6 p.m.) and Jackson State (Sunday – 2 p.m.) over the weekend at the Hail State Invitational. Both matches will be streamed by the Watch ESPN app. Sunday's match will televised nationwide by the SEC Network.
"We have two more opportunities at home before we go into conference play where we just have to continue to figure our stuff out and start a little bit more aggressive," Dennis said. "Tomorrow, we're going to be fresh and energetic, and my hope is that this team is going to be ready to go."
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.
STARKVILLE – Mississippi State's volleyball team fought off a pair of match points during the fourth set and nearly erased a two-set deficit before Syracuse escaped with a four-set decision [23-25, 18-25, 25-12, 26-28] to start the Hail State Invitational on Friday at the Newell-Grissom Building.
The Bulldogs (7-3) connected for 52 kills and a .227 hitting percentage. Mississippi State secured a 9-6 advantage in blocks and a 41-32 edge in digs over the Orange (9-1).
The match had a six-minute delay due to a power surge caused by weather midway through the third set. There also was an inadvertent whistle that came from the stands during match point.
"This was a weird match," head coach Julie Darty Dennis said. "We flipped a bunch of stuff in set three, and we started a little bit different than we normally do. I like the energy that the team brought out. I thought that we were a tougher and grittier team during that third set. We just have to find ways to be that team from the third set all the time. Callie and Francesca responded really well under pressure off the bench and competed really well for their team."
"Then, in that fourth set, I thought we were super tough," Dennis continued. "We responded after being down by five points at one point. We talked in the timeout about how someone's going to have to get tough, and I thought they really did. We fought tooth and nail to the very end. I felt like we were going to push it to five sets, and I thought that if we did, we were tiring them out. So, it would have been beneficial for us, in my opinion."
Lauren Myrick slammed 17 kills on a .382 attack percentage. She has knocked 10-plus kills over five of her last six appearances. Myrick also added five digs, one block, one ace and posted a perfect passer rating on 24 attempts.
Gabby Waden tallied eight kills and four blocks, while Callie Minshew fired in seven kills, five digs and was a perfect 25-for-25 on reception attempts over her two sets off the bench.
Lilly Gunter came away with 19 digs and two assists. She has reeled in 10-plus digs in eight of 10 matches this season. The 19 digs tied her fourth-highest career output.
State's setters, Gabby Coulter and Margaret Dean, combined for 41 assists and eight digs.
Deja Robinson added four kills and six blocks, whereas Francesca McBride provided three kills, two blocks and two blocks in her two frames off the bench.
"Lauren has established herself to be a very reliable player for us," Dennis said. "She hits super hard, she finds ways to score and that's the beauty in her. Her serve is super aggressive. She's a kid that I never have to talk to about giving me her best effort. She's always on, she's always reliable and I think that's something that our team needs more of. I'm excited for her level of play. I want to start rallying the troops around her and get more of that on the floor."
Syracuse took sets one and two by 25-23 and 25-18 margins, respectively. The Bulldogs got rolling behind a McBride kill to start set three. State stretched it to 11-5 on a Waden kill and pushed it to 16-6 as Minshew took advantage off an Orange overpass. The Maroon and White closed out the 25-12 decision on a McBride crosscourt kill.
The fourth set featured 11 ties and five lead changes. The Bulldogs wiped away match points courtesy of Myrick kills at 24-23 and 26-25. However, Syracuse answered with a sideout spike and an ace after an inadvertent whistle from the stands to close out the 28-26 decision.
Mississippi State takes on South Alabama (Saturday – 6 p.m.) and Jackson State (Sunday – 2 p.m.) over the weekend at the Hail State Invitational. Both matches will be streamed by the Watch ESPN app. Sunday's match will televised nationwide by the SEC Network.
"We have two more opportunities at home before we go into conference play where we just have to continue to figure our stuff out and start a little bit more aggressive," Dennis said. "Tomorrow, we're going to be fresh and energetic, and my hope is that this team is going to be ready to go."
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.