Mississippi State managed to take a set at No. 19 Florida on Friday night and grabbed an early lead Sunday afternoon against No. 25 Auburn, but the Bulldogs lost each match in four sets and have now dropped four straight matches to fall back to .500 overall.

MSU fell 25-21, 25-19, 24-26, 25-14 to the Gators in Gainesville, staying within an arm’s length for the first set but never quite catching up. The Bulldogs led as late as 14-13 in the second set before Florida took control, and then in the third, MSU staved off a match point and closed out the set by winning three straight points to stay alive. Florida put things away in the fourth set, using a 9-1 run to break a 7-7 tie.

Kailin Newsome led the Bulldogs with 12 kills, while sophomore Arissa Smith was by far their most efficient attacker, with 11 kills and just one error on 17 swings for a .588 hitting percentage. Erin Kline and Ceci Harness had 21 and 20 assists, respectively.

Back at Newell-Grissom Building two days later, MSU fell 20-25, 25-13, 25-15, 25-19 to the Tigers. The Bulldogs led for nearly the entire first set, holding off an Auburn rally and closing it out with three straight points. After that, it was all Tigers. MSU did lead 8-4 early in the third set before a 10-1 Auburn run, and in the fourth, the Tigers created separation by winning nine points in a row.

Smith was strong once again, tallying 12 kills on 21 kills with just two errors and hitting .476. Karli Schmidt added eight kills without an attacking error, and setters Kline and Harness combined for 34 assists.

The Bulldogs (7-7, 1-4 Southeastern Conference) are now tied for last in the SEC with Alabama and Oklahoma. MSU is next in action Sunday at Missouri.