Mississippi State continued backsliding Wednesday evening with a 25-17, 25-20, 25-11 loss at No. 12 Kentucky, the Bulldogs’ fifth straight defeat and a loss that ensured MSU will finish below .500 overall.
The Bulldogs (10-13, 4-10 Southeastern Conference) scored the first two points of the opening set, but the first-place Wildcats (18-7, 12-2) used an 8-1 run to pull ahead for good. The second set was closer, with MSU holding a 12-10 lead before Kentucky won six straight points to go up 18-13. The Bulldogs managed to claw their way back to a one-point deficit but could never pull even as the Wildcats went up two sets to none.
In the third set, MSU had just four kills and six attack errors for a negative hitting percentage. Kentucky took leads of 5-1 and 11-3 and never looked back in completing the sweep. No player on either team managed even 10 kills — Karli Schmidt’s eight led the Bulldogs. Freshman McKenna Yates finished with 11 digs, while setter Ceci Harness was held to 13 assists as she split playing time with freshman Cayley Hanson, who had eight.
MSU hosts No. 25 Missouri for its final home game of the season on Sunday. The Bulldogs will honor their six fifth-year players: Schmidt, Harness, Rebecca Walk, Amina Shackelford, Kailin Newsome and Kennedy Davis. None of those six started their college careers in Starkville, and Walk is the only one to spend more than two seasons at MSU.
The Tigers handed the Bulldogs a four-set loss in Columbia on Oct. 20.
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