Coming off three straight victories against Arkansas, Texas and Alabama, Texas A&M volleyball was looking to continue its winning streak at home in Reed Arena as it took on the Mississippi State Bulldogs on Sunday.
The Aggies gave a convincing effort behind junior opposite hitter Logan Lednicky’s 15 kills and junior setter Maddie Waak’s 33 assists but were ultimately downed by the Bulldogs in straight sets, 3-0.
“It was one of those matches where I don’t think we did anything terribly, but I’m not sure we did anything really well either.” coach Jamie Morrison said. “I’m curious to watch the film and figure out what needs to be fixed before Kentucky on Friday.”
The first set began going back and forth. No team broke a lead until Lednicky and junior middle blocker Morgan Perkins recorded back-to-back kills to give A&M a 10-7 lead. After an attack error by the Bulldogs’ graduate OH Karli Schmidt, the Aggies took a 17-13 lead.
However, this set was far from over as Mississippi State went on a 8-2 run to regain the lead and give itself the momentum. A kill by the Maroon and White’s junior OH Emily Hellmuth evened the score at 21, but the momentum by the Bulldogs was too much as they closed the set on a 4-0 run, 25-21.
The beginning of the second set was similar to the first as no team broke a lead. Waak gave a great set to Lednicky for a kill to give A&M a 7-5 lead. However, both teams were neck and neck when Schmidt was able to tie the score at 13 with a kill of her own.
Looking for some type of momentum, A&M junior OH Taylor Humphrey recorded a kill to give it a two-point lead before Mississippi State began a run.
After striking four kills and taking advantage of some Aggie errors, the Bulldogs went on a 8-0 run to take full control of the second set. Hellmuth tried to answer with another kill, but the comeback was unsuccessful as the Bulldogs took the second set, 25-18.
“I thought, offensively, we were clicking,” Morrison said. “One thing that concerned me is that they were clicking, too. Then, I thought we came down to earth a little bit and they didn’t. When I say clicking, I mean we were both hitting around .400 or something like that, they just continued to do that throughout the match.”
Knowing they needed to win the third set, Perkins, Lednicky and Hellmuth recorded kills early to take away the Bulldogs’ momentum. A&M junior MB Ifenna Cos-Okpalla and Lednicky contributed back-to-back kills to cut Mississippi State’s lead, to 11-10.
After this, the Bulldogs proceeded to go on a 9-4 run after some A&M errors and redshirt senior right-side hitter Amina Shackelford and Schmidt recorded kills.
“I think that was the number one thing, was the offensive pieces and we were getting a couple more touches and a couple more turns in transition,” Morrison said. “Then, again, they kept doing what they were doing and we came down to earth a little bit.”
The Aggies attempted a comeback after Lednicky contributed two kills and Hellmuth had a kill of her own, but Mississippi State graduate MB Rebecca Walk and Schmidt struck back-to-back kills to seal the deal for the Bulldogs as they walked away with a 25-18 third set win.
The Aggies will be back in action as they travel to Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky to play against the Kentucky Wildcats on Friday at 6 p.m.
