The Rebels (10-5, 1-1) enter the match after defeating Alabama 3-1 on Sunday. Ole Miss dropped their first SEC match of the season to Auburn Friday night.
“We opened up SEC play last Friday against a very good Auburn team,” coach Steven McRoberts said. “Many predicted them to be fourth or fifth in the conference. They are off to a very good start. I thought we played really well. In the fourth set, we were up 23-21 with a lot of momentum. We ended up losing 28-26. We had five hitting errors during that run to lose the match. We were all very disappointed that we did not take it to the fifth set. We had some players step up and take accountability for how that match ended. Those are the same players that stepped up on Sunday and are the reason why we beat Alabama.”
Mississippi State enters tonight’s match at 9-8 overall and 0-2 in the SEC. The Bulldogs are coming off a 3-1 loss at Tennessee. MSU dropped a 3-2 match at home to South Carolina.
Senior Jelena Vujcin leads MSU with 3.59 kills per set, which ranks seventh in the SEC. Vujcin also ranks eighth in points per set (4.23).
“Coach David McFatrich at Mississippi State has done a really nice job,” McRoberts said. “If you look at the overall record, program-wise, our program has dominated against Mississippi State. But, the past two years they have gotten us. We are going in with more motivation than we have had in the past, especially understanding that we can get to 2-1 in the league.”
Ole Miss leads the all-time series with Mississippi State 69-26, but the Bulldogs have won three straight, including two in a row in Starkville.
Adam Brown is the sports editor of HottyToddy.com. He can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.
