STARKVILLE — For the second time in the span of less than three weeks, Texas A&M’s offensive firepower was too much for Mississippi State.

The Aggies swept the Bulldogs in three straight sets in the Southeastern Conference opener on Sept. 20 in College Station, and home court advantage was not enough to prevent MSU from the same fate Sunday.

“We needed to do better with our blocks,” Bulldogs head coach Julie Darty Dennis said. “They just seem to have our number. They abused our block quite a bit for a bunch of kills.”

After Texas A&M hit .321 as a team in that September match, the Aggies hit .357 on Sunday, with kills on more than half of their attacks. MSU (8-8, 1-5 SEC) is still without one of its best blockers in Zoe Gonzales, who warmed up with her teammates but remains unavailable to play due to an ankle injury. Texas A&M (12-4, 4-2) blocked 14 attacks Sunday while the Bulldogs managed just six.

MSU led early in the first set before the Aggies reeled off seven straight points to go in front for good. The Bulldogs rallied to pull within one point at 16-15, but Texas A&M closed the set on a 9-4 run.

“We executed okay up until about 15 points,” Darty Dennis said. “After 15 points, that’s when it really gets hard. We have to go back to the basics and spend more time on us and less time on our opponent. We’re just figuring out who we are and how we want to play.”

MSU played well enough on the back end defensively, out-digging the Aggies 38-35, but struggled to find a consistent source of offense with a team hitting percentage under .200 for the fourth consecutive match.

Rebecca Walk (eight kills and two errors on 11 attacks) and Amina Shackelford (six kills and one error on 14 attempts) had efficient afternoons, as did Sanaa Williams, who had three kills in the first set but was mostly shut down after that. Karli Schmidt and Sophie Agee, the Bulldogs’ leaders in kills for the season, had a hard time penetrating Texas A&M’s block.

“(Walk and Shackelford) are leaders for us. It’s their job to step up and hold the team to a high standard,” Darty Dennis said. “I’m proud of them; they were prepared well and they executed at a high level. It’s going to take them plus everybody else for us to get a total team win.”

The Aggies’ offense ran mostly through Logan Lednicky, who was coming off a 22-kill performance in a four-set win Friday at Ole Miss. Lednicky led all players with 13 kills Sunday, while Ital Lopuyo and Ifenna Cos-Okpalla added eight and seven kills, respectively, with both hitting above .500.

MSU again jumped out in front early in the second set, then rallied from behind to tie it at 20-20. Texas A&M closed it out, though, getting back-to-back kills from Lednicky to go up two sets to none.

The third set followed a similar script. The lead changed hands five times, with the Bulldogs last holding it at 14-13 before a 6-1 Aggies run. MSU made it interesting late with kills by Walk and Agee closing the gap to 22-19, but Texas A&M took the last three points to complete the sweep.

The road does not get easier for the Bulldogs, who host No. 9 Florida on Friday evening.

“If we go in and play loose and fun and free, maybe that will be a better matchup for us,” Darty Dennis said. “It’s all about serve-and-pass and our defense. Our defensive effort, we have to make moves toward the ball and not away from the ball even when the block is not there. Our first contact has to be a little bit better for us to get ready for Florida.”