Alabama defeated the Mississippi State Bulldogs Friday night 3-2, snapping the Crimson Tide’s five-game losing streak.
“It was a big team effort today. We work on this stuff everyday in practice,” libero Francesca Bertucci said. “We say it almost every game that all we need to do is finish, and today we did a really good job with that.”
The team came out firing in Set 1, and outside hitter Sophie Agee scored the first 7 points. Mississippi State came all the way back and tied the game at 15-15, but Alabama kept its cool and pulled out the win late, 25-21.
Sets 2 and 3 went the Bulldogs’ way. Both times, Alabama got early advantages but couldn’t keep them, as Mississippi State pulled away late to take a 2-1 lead.
Alabama bounced right back. Trailing 16-14, the Crimson Tide got three straight kills to take the lead and never looked back, winning 25-21.
The final set was all Alabama. It started with an attack error by Karli Schmidt, which gave the team the 1-0 lead, and it never looked back, winning the set 15-6 and the game 3-2.
For Agee, the win was personal.
“This game meant a lot to me as I used to play for Mississippi State,” Agee said. “I knew we could ball. We were firing on all cylinders and we came together and pulled out the win.”
Alabama outplayed Mississippi State on offense with more points (91-72), kills (76-56), total attacks (181-162) and assists (68-52). The team did struggle with errors, however, having double the amount of offensive errors as the Bulldogs, yet it was still able to find ways to win.
The win was important, as the Crimson Tide had lost five straight games and had only won two sets in those five games. It was also the team’s third SEC win of the season, and overall it now sits at 11-12, tying its final win total from 2023.
“I am just incredibly proud of these ladies,” head coach Rashinda Reed said. “We have been working through adversity in a lot of matches this year, fighting back from being down.”
Alabama’s next game is Sunday at noon CT in Tuscaloosa against reigning national champions Texas. The game will be on ESPN.
