Following a disappointing 2023 season in which Mississippi State finished 6-12 in the Southeastern Conference, the Bulldogs under head coach Julie Darty Dennis are reloading with five new additions in the transfer portal for 2024.
“This is a very experienced and mature group of players we are bringing in,” Dennis said in a news release. “Experience is so important at this level.”
Arianna Beckham, a junior from Florida Atlantic, started all 33 matches for the Owls in 2023 and was far and away the team’s kill leader with 351, including a season-high 22 against East Carolina. She was also second on the team in blocks and is the daughter of Antonio Beckham, who played five seasons in the NFL as a defensive back for the Tennessee Titans and Detroit Lions.
Mele Corral-Blagojevich spent her freshman year at Oklahoma, starting 10 games for the Sooners and appearing in all but one contest. Her 24 aces ranked second on the team and her 173 digs were third.
Kennedy Davis is a graduate transfer who played her first two seasons at Western Illinois before moving onto Tennessee State for the last two years. She led Tennessee State in blocks in 2022 and 2023 and was the kill leader at Western Illinois in 2021.
MSU also added grad transfer Cecilia Harness from North Texas, a setter who started 30 of 33 matches last year for the Mean Green and averaged nearly 5.5 assists per set. The Bulldogs lost both of their primary setters from last season, Emily Oerther and Alexa Fortin Goede, to graduation, so Harness will have the chance to compete for a starting role.
Rounding out the transfer class is Kailin Newsome, a three-time First-Team All-Southland Conference selection at Southeastern Louisiana and the 2020 Southland Freshman of the Year. Newsome led the Lions with 453 kills and 50 aces last season.
MSU is bringing back a good portion of its offensive production, led by Karli Schmidt, Amina Shackelford and Rebecca Walk. But an already-tough SEC, which sent eight teams — more than any other conference — to the 2023 NCAA Tournament will get even tougher this fall with the addition of two-time defending national champion Texas.
“We are looking forward to these young women coming in and immediately impacting our program,” Dennis said. “They are each individually wonderful people, but they are equally great volleyball players, and they really complement our team and complete our roster for this fall.”
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