Georgia volleyball sweeps Mississippi State
October 25, 2009 by BEN BUSSARD
Filed under Sports
It was just what the doctor ordered for a Georgia volleyball team looking to end a four-match losing streak.
The prescription? A struggling Mississippi State team that had lost eight of its last nine matches heading into Friday night.
Georgia (12-9; 3-7 SEC) was able to defeat Mississippi State (5-17; 1-10 SEC) for the second time this season and squelch a season-high losing streak in the process following a three-set sweep of the visiting Bulldogs.
“It’s great to win again because it’s been awhile,” sophomore setter Kathleen Gates said. “Everyone was playing well and it was fun to be out there because everyone wanted hit the ball and they needed me to produce too.”
“We love to do it on our home floor,” head coach Joel McCartney said. “We appreciate the crowd support we had and people lifted us up there when the moment got tight the fans got to their feet.”
After jumping out to a quick 11-6 lead, the Bulldogs never trailed and cruised to a 25-19 first set victory.
Redshirt freshman outside hitter Briana Bahr and junior outside hitter Erika Clark each tallied three kills in the opening set to lead the offensive attack for Georgia while sophomore libero Carla Tietz was a defensive stopper for the Bulldogs, posting a set-high nine digs.
Another fast start to the second set allowed Georgia to take an early 7-1 lead before finishing the Bulldogs by a set score of 25-16 to take the two-set advantage.
Georgia was completely dominant throughout the set, posting a stellar team hitting percentage of .406 while holding Mississippi State to a mere .053 hitting percentage.
Clark added to her match-high 14 kills with five in the second set to lead Georgia’s offensive attack along with Gates’ set-high 12 assists.
“Finding the hot hitter, setting them and then have our team produce to where if someone isn’t having a great game, going away from them and trying to find another hot hand,” Gates said.
Mississippi State managed to put up more of a fight in the third set as the visiting Bulldogs were able to hang tough with Georgia for the majority of the set before ultimately falling to a much stronger Bulldog squad.
The Bulldogs faced their first deficit of the night at 20-17 late in the set before going on a 8-2 run to end Mississippi State’s comeback bid.
“The third set I give a lot of credit to Mississippi State, they were fighting hard, they found open holes in our defense and we tightened up a little bit,” McCartney said. “But when the pressure hit there in the late part of that third set, we had a lot of fun through that.”
Up next for Georgia will be the Alabama Crimson Tide who come into the Ramsey Student Center on Sunday afternoon for a 1:30 p.m. tip-off.
