Mississippi State
Arkansas
State Tops Hogs 3-1 For First Win In Fayetteville; Seals Gets No. 500
October 28, 2007 | Volleyball
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Five Bulldogs registered double-figures in kills Sunday and MSU withstood a career hitting performance by Jessica Dorrell en route to a 3-1 win (30-21, 23-30, 37-35, 30-27) over the Arkansas Lady Razorbacks (10-14, 4-10 SEC). It was third straight win over Arkansas and first ever in Fayetteville for the Bulldogs (10-13, 5-9 SEC) and the 500th career coaching win for fourth-year MSU head coach Tina Seals.
"This was an exciting match from start to finish," said Seals. "We got some outstanding play from our seniors, particularly in the third game when the match was on the line. We were able to get some balls to Jamie (Joyner), and she responded with another strong offensive performance. Mississippi State had not won up here before, and that's something our players, especially our seniors, talked about this week in practice."
Joyner led Mississippi State with 17 kills, while Cristina Jucan and Ioana Demian had 12 kills, Lauren Kowal 11 and Erin Seago 10. Megan Lukasek paced the MSU defense with 26 digs while Joyner and Kowal had three blocks each. With her performance Lukasek became the fourth Bulldog to reach the 400-dig mark in a season, now with 406.
State opened the match in impressive fashion, racing to a 9-2 lead and building an 18-7 advantage after the first rotation that included six serves each by Megan Lukasek and Jamie Joyner. The Bulldogs hit at a crisp .359 clip, with Cristina Jucan tallying five kills in six swings.
The Lady'backs trailed by as many as 13 points several times but staged a 6-0 run to trim the Bulldog lead before an Arkansas serving error gave State a 30-21 win in the opening set.
A strong start and solid finish to game two enabled Arkansas to pull even at a game apiece. Jessica Dorrell, who tallied six of her match-high 30 kills in the opening set, took command with eight kills in game two. Dorrell drilled three kills as UA opened the stanza with a 7-2 run. State battled back, pulling even at 13-13 when Joyner and Erin Seago combined to block an attack by Dorrell. Dorrell's next kill broke a 16-16 deadlock and Arkansas out-pointed State 6-1 down the stretch for a 30-23 win.
In a gritty performance in the third set, the Bulldogs fought off seven Arkansas serves at game point before registering a 37-35 win. Down 35-34, State got a pair of kills by Joiner and a game-winner by Seago. The duo combined for 11 of MSU's 24 kills in the set.
The two teams battled on near even terms through much of the deciding third set before an Erin Seago kill broke a 23-23 tie and gave the Bulldogs a lead they would defend to the end of the set. Demian recorded a pair of kills down the stretch and Eva Kriegel delivered the match-winning final blow in a 30-27 win.
Dorrell finished with a career-high 30 kills, while Heather Royal followed with 17 and Christine Lawrence with 13 and six blocks.
The win was MSU's first on the road in the SEC since last October.
Mississippi State continues SEC volleyball competition on the road this week, visiting Auburn Friday for a 7 p.m. match before concluding the four-match road run Sunday with 1 p.m. match at Georgia.
