Mississippi State’s comeback effort fell short in its first match of the season Friday night at Samford, but the Bulldogs earned their first win of the year the next day at Alabama-Birmingham.
Samford took the first two sets from MSU, 25-19 and 25-22, before State rallied to win sets three and four 25-20 and 25-23, respectively. But the hosts closed it out with a 15-9 fifth-set victory with a .444 hitting percentage in that final set.
Amina Shackelford and newcomer Kailin Newsome led MSU with 13 kills apiece, with Shackelford hitting an impressive .414. Setter Ceci Harness, making her MSU debut after transferring from North Texas, had 27 assists and 12 digs. Mary Neal added 17 digs and Newsome chipped in with 16.
On Saturday, the Bulldogs defeated the Blazers 25-22, 25-18, 22-25, 25-21 and were especially dominant offensively in the second set, when they hit .520 with 14 kills and just one attack error. Fifth-year senior Karli Schmidt led MSU with 19 kills, Shackelford had 15 and Newsome 10. Harness had 33 assists running the offense and freshman Cayley Hanson added 19. Neal and Newsome each had 13 digs.
“Karli’s a spark plug. She does a great job on the floor,” head coach Julie Darty Dennis said. “She was exactly what we needed on the left side. Whenever we needed something, she stepped up to the challenge and got it done. Really proud of the effort she showed on the court.”
The Bulldogs (1-1) open the home portion of their schedule Friday evening against Michigan as part of the StarkVegas Classic, and then Notre Dame visits Starkville on Sunday afternoon.
“Any road win is a good win,” Darty Dennis said. “It’s so hard to beat someone on their own court because we know how much we love to play on ours.”
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