Mississippi State senior Deja Robinson has been selected as the SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week for volleyball following the Bulldogs’ sweep over Arkansas this past weekend in Fayetteville.
This marks the second weekly honor of Robinson’s career and the first time this season she has earned a share of the SEC’s weekly defensive award. Robinson posted a team-high 16 total blocks and averaged 2.00 blocks per set to help Mississippi State extend the SEC’s longest winning streak to 12 matches.
“I am so incredibly proud of Deja,” MSU coach Julie Darty Dennis said. “She has been working hard on her blocking, and we saw that hard work pay off this weekend. Deja is a vital part of our team’s success, and it makes me really happy and proud for her to earn this recognition.”
Mississippi State is ranked No. 24 in the latest AVCA Top 25 Coaches Poll with a 24-5 overall record, 15-2 in the SEC.
The Bulldogs return home to close out the regular season against Auburn at 4 p.m. Friday in the Newell-Grissom Building. Admission is free, and gates open one hour prior to first serve.
Women’s rodeo
EMCC captures fall finale in Kentucky
The East Mississippi Community College women’s rodeo team closed out the fall portion of the 2021-22 NIRA Ozark Region schedule on a high note by winning the Murray State University Racer Roundup College Rodeo at the Bill Cherry Expo Center in Murray, Kentucky.
EMCC competitors claimed three event titles, headlined by Jaylie Matthews continuing her barrel racing dominance. Matthews earned her fourth regional barrel racing win during the five-event fall season after previously prevailing at Missouri Valley, West Alabama and Southern Arkansas. With times of 14.32 and 14.49 seconds at Murray State, she collected 170 points to claim her 11th career Ozark Region regular-season barrel racing victory
Placing ahead of co-runners-up Pearl River and West Alabama, the EMCC women racked up 265 of their 375 points in barrel racing. Mikayla Joh Almond and Taycie Matthews finished with 50 and 45 points, respectively.
EMCC’s other 110 points were collected by Blair Bryant. With her times of 2.7 and 3.3 seconds, the Ozark Region’s reigning breakaway roping champion placed third in the fall finale.
Men’s rodeo
EMCC takes third in Racer Roundup
The Lions totaled 465 points in three events to finish behind team champion Missouri Valley College (1,060) and UT-Martin (560) at Murray State’s season-ending rodeo.
Brothers Cooper and Cade Cowan captured their second straight regional event team roping title, while Myles Neighbors earned his fifth career event win in Ozark Region steer wrestling.
Neighbors amassed the maximum 180 points with winning times of 4.0 and 4.1 seconds at Murray State.
The Lions totaled 195 points during the team roping. In addition to the 170 earned by the Cowans after posting times of 5.7 and 5.6 seconds, Neighbors and Scooba product Matt Watt added 25 points between them by pairing with Southern Arkansas team ropers Garrett Lock and Booker McCutchen, respectively.
Aided by a winning second-round time of 10.1 seconds, Watt collected 90 points for his fourth-place finish in tie-down roping. Teammate Kota Wilhite also advanced to the championship round in tie-down roping after winning the first round with a 10.3-second clocking.
The Lions will head to the midseason break ranked atop the Ozark Region women’s team standings and third on the men’s side, with the women ranked No. 5 nationally and the men sitting at No. 20.
Conference news
Belhaven moving to USA South
Belhaven University has accepted an invitation to join the USA South Conference and will begin competition in the fall of 2022.
The USA South Conference features 19 NCAA Division III institutions spread across the southeastern states of Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Virginia. Belhaven University is currently in the American Southwest Conference, which includes 10 other members largely in Texas, and has held its membership since 2015.
“Joining the USA South groups Belhaven with a league of schools that all share our similar characteristics — private institutions, commitment to prioritizing academics, balanced quality athletic programs — and located closer to us in the Southeast region,” Belhaven President Roger Parrott said.
“Strategic conference affiliation is at the heart of successful intercollegiate athletics,” Belhaven Vice President and Director of Athletics Scott Little said. “The USA South is a natural conference home for us given our geographic location and our primary southeastern recruiting footprint, both for student-athletes and students in general. In addition to Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, an increasing number of our student-athletes originate from Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. Our student-athletes and their families will enjoy these new opportunities for competition and growth.”
Belhaven student-athletes compete in 17 intercollegiate sports: baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross-country, football, men’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, men’s and women’s indoor and outdoor track and field, and volleyball.
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