Mississippi State was competitive in all three sets of its home opener Friday evening against Michigan, losing each by no more than three points. Two days later, the Bulldogs rallied from two sets down to force a decisive fifth set against Notre Dame but again fell short.
MSU (1-3) led early in each set against the Wolverines before falling 25-22, 26-24, 27-25. A pair of transfers, Kailin Newsome and Arianna Beckham, led the Bulldogs with 11 kills each. MSU used a two-setter rotation, with freshman Cayley Hanson tallying 19 assists and Ceci Harness 17. Three players were in double figures in digs, with Mary Neal totaling 12 and Newsome and Mele Corral-Blagojevich 10 apiece.
The second and third sets both went to extra points, and the Bulldogs had two set points in the third set before Michigan (6-0) closed it out.
On Sunday, MSU dropped the first set 25-20 and the second set 26-24, but bounced back to win the third 25-20 and the fourth 29-27 before running out of gas in the fifth, with the Fighting Irish (3-1) winning 15-7. Newsome led all players with 25 kills, Karli Schmidt had 15, Beckham added 13 and Rebecca Walk chipped in with 12.
“We’re close. We had some moments with small lapses in judgment. We’re growing, we’re learning and we’re moving in the right direction,” head coach Julie Darty Dennis said. “We out-blocked and out-dug Notre Dame. There were just a few too many errors on our side. Notre Dame is such a good risk-management team, and they kept the ball in play.”
Erin Kline, filling in for Hanson, had 32 assists and Harness added 31. Newsome also had 22 digs, with Kline adding 18 from the setter position. Harness, Neal and freshman McKenna Yates each had at least 10 digs as well.
The Bulldogs are off to the Green Wave Classic in New Orleans this weekend with three matches in as many days, against host Tulane on Friday, Louisiana-Monroe on Saturday and Grambling State on Sunday.
“Kailin was huge for us today. I can’t ask anything else from her; she was ridiculous with 25 kills,” Darty Dennis said. “A big part of what she brings to our team is experience. She’s been in those situations where you’re down 0-2 and must come from behind. It’s huge to have her be a part of this team. Our setters started setting the middle more consistently. (Walk) did a good job stepping up when she had those chances.”
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