STARKVILLE — Mississippi State volleyball has started the 2023 season on a hot streak, sweeping the StarkVegas Classic over the weekend.
The Bulldogs have started a season out 3-0 for the third-straight year, dominating with two straight-set wins and then a dramatic reverse sweep of Louisiana-Lafayette.
Mississippi State began the weekend with a straight-set win over Eastern Kentucky, 25-23, 25-19, 25-14, on Friday, hitting .336 in the match with 45 kills and 11 blocks, limiting errors to nine in total.
Senior transfer Karli Schmidt led the way with 14 kills in the win for the Bulldogs.
On Saturday, Mississippi State swept Northwestern State, 25-11, 25-14, 25-20, behind an even more dominant performance overall. The Bulldogs more than doubled NWSU’s total kills in the match, 46-22, hitting .344 overall.
Once again, Schmidt was the leader in kills with 12.
Schmidt ended up leading Mississippi State in all three matches, recording 16 kills against the Ragin’ Cajuns for a three-day total of 42 to open the season. A key impact transfer signing, she’s already looking like a player to watch for Mississippi State.
On Sunday, the Bulldogs fell into a quick 2-0 hole against Louisiana-Lafayette, but battled back in the final three sets, including a dramatic 15-13 fifth-set tiebreaker victory.
It wasn’t the prettiest of matches from either side, but errors were the downfall for the Ragin’ Cajuns, who committed 38 in total, with 26 coming in the final three sets.
For Mississippi State, it had 19 total errors, seven coming in those important final three sets, and that made all the difference as the Bulldogs hit .217 in the match compared to a .098 hitting percentage for Louisiana-Lafayette.
The Bulldogs take to the road this weekend for the UCF Challenge in Orlando, where they’ll meet the Knights on Friday night and FIU Saturday afternoon.
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