Texas A&M volleyball swept by Mississippi State at Reed Arena

A Sunday to forget for the Aggies.

Texas A&M Volleyball had its three-game winning streak snapped on Sunday afternoon, as the Aggies were swept by Mississippi State, 3-0 (21-25, 18-25, 18-25). The Aggies are now 15-5 and 6-4 in conference play with this defeat.

The Aggies and the Bulldogs were tied early at 6-6 in the opening set, but junior opposite hitter Logan Lednicky put down two kills that pushed A&M forward to an 11-8 lead. Junior outside hitter Emily Hellmuth and junior middle blocker Morgan Perkins also had kills of their own to keep the Aggies in front.

With A&M leading 17-13, Mississippi State staged a comeback, as the Bulldogs went on a 6-1 run to take a 19-18 lead. As a result, head coach Jamie Morrison called a much-needed timeout.

The Ags evened the score at 21, with Hellmuth tagging on another two kills. However, the Bulldogs were unfazed, as they scored four straight points in the set to win it 25-21. Critical in this period for Mississippi State was graduate outside hitter Karli Schmidt, who had four kills.

As of late, A&M has struggled with starting games slowly. With this match, the Maroon and White have lost the first set in each of their last five games. In addition, the team had seven total errors in the stanza.

Looking to get back on track in set two, the Aggies found themselves with a slim 11-9 lead, with more kills coming from Lednicky and Hellmuth.

But like the first set, Mississippi State refused to go quietly, and after A&M led 17-15, they went on another huge run. The Bulldogs scored eight unanswered points to take a commanding 23-17 lead, putting the Aggies on their heels.

The Maroon & White only scored one more point after that, and they ended up losing the set, 25-18. Errors haunted A&M once again, as Mississippi State scored five of its final eight points via attack errors from the opponent.

“I thought offensively, we were clicking,” Morrison said. “The one thing that concerned me is that they were clicking, too.”

Needing to dig themselves out of a hole down two, the Aggies needed a set win to keep the game alive. Junior middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla scored the third set’s first point with a kill, but the Bulldogs ripped off four fast points to take a 4-1 lead.

The visitors had everything going their way in this game. The Bulldogs eventually extended their early lead up to 11-9, then to 18-12. They stifled any comeback attempt by the Aggies, playing with tons of energy.

Mississippi State, leading 23-17, was looking to finish the job and claim their fourth conference win of the season. Schmidt scored a kill for another point, and graduate middle blocker Rebecca Walk scored her eighth kill of the game to win it for the Bulldogs, 25-18, and reward them with a 3-0 victory.

This game was one that Mississippi State was all over from start to finish. The Bulldogs scored 75 total points with a .361 hitting percentage and four aces, while also accumulating nine blocks and 16 block assists.

“It was one of those matches where I didn’t think we necessarily did anything terribly,” Morrison said. “But I don’t know how much we did anything really, really well.”

On their own hardwood this season, the Aggies have not been as dominant as they’d like to be against conference opponents. This is the second time they’ve been swept at Reed Arena, and the team is now 3-3 at home against SEC opposition.

The Maroon and White will next embark on a three-game road trip, and the first game of this tour will be at Kentucky on Friday, November 8 at 6:00 p.m. CT.