With the 2023-24 season in the books for Mississippi State athletics, The Dispatch is taking time this week to look back on the year that was. From Southeastern Conference championships to NCAA Tournament runs, here are the top 10 moments from the past nine-plus months across all Bulldogs teams.
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10. Women’s tennis earns first SEC win for Hooshyar
After failing to win a conference match in 2023, MSU was on its way to a similar fate this spring under new head coach Chris Hooshyar, a longtime assistant coach at Auburn. But on Senior Day, the Bulldogs defeated Missouri 4-1 to conclude the regular season on Apr. 14 with freshman Jayna Clemens coming back from a set down to clinch the victory. Seniors Alexandra Mikhailuk and Chloé Cirotte ended their careers with a win at home.
9. Volleyball takes down No. 14 Florida for signature win
MSU finished 13-15 last fall with a 6-12 mark in conference play, thanks in large part to an abysmal 1-10 road record. But in a deep SEC, the Bulldogs grabbed their biggest victory of the year on Oct. 13 in Starkville against the No. 14 Gators, winning in four sets and hitting .338 as a team, easily their best mark in SEC play.
Amina Shackelford led MSU with 18 kills, Sophie Agee added 16 and Karli Schmidt chipped in with 13. Setters Emily Oerther and Erin Kline combined for 46 assists. Lauren Myrick and Mary Neal were excellent defensively, with a combined 34 digs.
8. The “pitch six” caps football’s win over Southern Miss
It was a tumultuous week for the Bulldogs’ football program, on its way to a 5-7 season and its first year without a bowl game since 2009. MSU had fired head coach Zach Arnett five days earlier, with Greg Knox in charge of getting the Bulldogs to regroup for a pair of games against in-state opponents.
MSU trailed early against the Golden Eagles on Nov. 18 but was in good shape late, leading by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, when linebacker Jett Johnson intercepted a pass from Southern Miss quarterback Billy Wiles. Johnson was about to be brought down after a short return when he lateralled the ball to safety Marcus Banks, who took it the rest of the way for a game-sealing touchdown.
At the end of a difficult week, the “pitch six” gave the Bulldogs something to laugh about on the sideline.
“Thank goodness Marcus was paying attention,” Johnson said. “I owe him for that. In hindsight, that’s a dumb play, in my opinion. But it worked out, so everybody says it’s a great play.”
7. Madisyn Kennedy puts up historic numbers in March
Entering her fifth and final year with the MSU softball program, Kennedy — primarily a shortstop — had never hit more than eight home runs in a season. After moving to first base this spring, Kennedy clobbered 10 homers in March alone, with a .547 on-base percentage and 34 RBI in 19 games that month.
That included a multi-homer game against rival Ole Miss in the first weekend of SEC play, a seven-RBI midweek game against Louisiana-Monroe and key blasts in conference wins over Texas A&M, Arkansas and Florida. Kennedy was named an NFCA Second-Team All-American at the end of the season and will play professionally this summer with the independent Florida Vibe.
6. Men’s basketball routs Tennessee in SEC Tournament to wrap up March Madness bid
MSU had defeated the eventual SEC regular-season champion Volunteers at Humphrey Coliseum in January, and to move off the bubble and firmly into the NCAA Tournament field, the Bulldogs had to do so again in Nashville on Mar. 15. They did it with a defensive masterclass, holding Tennessee to 19 first-half points and 30.6 percent shooting for the game. SEC Player of the Year Dalton Knecht was just 4-for-17 shooting, including 2-for-9 from 3-point range.
On the offensive end, Josh Hubbard and Cameron Matthews scored 18 points apiece to lead MSU through to the semifinals with a 73-56 victory. It would be the Bulldogs’ last win of the year — they fell to Auburn the next day and were eliminated in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Michigan State.
5. Men’s tennis wins NCAA regional at home, advances to another Sweet 16
Facing the same opponents as they had the season before, the Bulldogs defeated Alabama State and Middle Tennessee — both in 4-0 shutouts — as the No. 16 national seed in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament on May 3 and 4. In so doing, MSU exacted revenge on the Blue Raiders, who had defeated the Bulldogs 4-3 in Murfreesboro three months earlier.
The Bulldogs sent seniors Nemanja Malesevic and Carles Hernandez out on a high note, with Hernandez clinching the match against Middle Tennessee. Freshman Roberto Ferrer Guimaraes earned singles wins in both matches to help MSU advance to the super regionals, where the Bulldogs fell 4-1 to No. 1 seed Ohio State.
4. Hujsak’s walk-off homer sends MSU past Ole Miss in SEC Tournament
The Magnolia State rivals’ fifth meeting of 2024 on May 21 was not short on storylines. Brooks Auger pitched the game of his life for the Bulldogs, holding the Rebels to just one run on three hits and no walks with 13 strikeouts in eight innings of work, throwing a mere 78 pitches. But Auger was on the hook for the hard-luck loss until fate intervened in the person of Hujsak, who had missed the final seven games of the regular season with a back injury.
With two outs and a runner on third in the bottom of the ninth, Hujsak launched the first pitch he saw over the left-field wall at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, extending MSU’s stay at the SEC Tournament and giving the Bulldogs the season series despite dropping two out of three in Oxford in mid-April. MSU also clinched the all-sport season series against Ole Miss, 10-8.
3. Women’s golf wins first-ever SEC Tournament title
Head coach Charlie Ewing’s Bulldogs defeated Texas A&M 3-2 in the match play finals on Apr. 16 to win the conference championship for the first time in program history, with star junior Julia Lopez Ramirez winning her second straight individual title. Lopez Ramirez, sophomore Izzy Pellot and freshman Avery Weed won their matchups against the Aggies, with Weed closing things out on an incredible approach shot on the final hole.
MSU went on to advance out of the NCAA regionals in Bermuda Run, North Carolina, finishing 15th at the national championship meet in Carlsbad, California.
2. Women’s basketball takes down defending champion LSU in front of sellout crowd
Head coach Sam Purcell began campaigning for a sellout at SEC Media Days back in October, and on Jan. 29 with the defending national champion Tigers in town, he got his wish. Buoyed by the capacity crowd, the Bulldogs outscored LSU 28-17 in the third quarter en route to a 77-73 win behind 24 points from Louisiana product Jerkaila Jordan.
The good vibes did not last — after winning its next three games, MSU fell apart down the stretch and fell short of a second straight NCAA Tournament appearance — but Purcell described that magical Monday night as what he dreamed about when he took the job in Starkville.
1. Soccer advances to NCAA Tournament round of 16 for first time ever
After shutting out Providence in the opening round, the No. 6 seed Bulldogs headed west to battle No. 3 seed Brown in Palo Alto, California on Nov. 17, and found themselves a goal down in the second half. But MSU tallied the equalizer when Ilana Izquierdo set up Kennedy White in the 70th minute, and on a corner kick, White found Taylor James in the 77th minute to put the Bulldogs in front 2-1.
MSU won its first NCAA Tournament game in program history in 2022, and the Bulldogs one-upped themselves in 2023 by reaching the third round before losing to host and No. 2 seed Stanford. But with goalkeeper Maddy Anderson and nearly every key offensive player returning, head coach James Armstrong’s team could be primed for even more success this coming fall.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
