STARKVILLE, Miss. – LSU was defeated by Mississippi State 3-1 (24-26, 25-17, 14-25, 19-25) Saturday afternoon at the Newell-Grissom Building to conclude the 2023 season.
LSU finishes with an 11-17 overall record, while Mississippi State ends the season with a 13-15 record. Both clubs finished 6-12 in SEC matches.
LSU won battles at the service line with three aces to MSU’s two and dug 45 balls compared to the Bulldog’s 42. Mississippi State registered more kills than LSU (53-49) and had a better hitting percentage (.299-.187). Both teams had nine blocks in the match.
Outside hitter Jurnee Robinson led the Tigers with 17 kills and hit .343 in addition to three blocks and seven digs. Middle blocker Alexis Roberson turned in a career-high 10 kills and a .412 hitting percentage and had three blocks in the loss.
Setter Maddie Waak had 24 assists, six digs and one ace, and counterpart Emily Mitter totaled 18 assists, four digs and one ace. Middle blocker Anita Anwusi turned in a team-high six blocks, and libero Erin Carmichael had a match-high 15 digs.
Set 1
LSU held the momentum early with a 6-5 advantage behind a 3-0 run and took a 15-13 lead into the media timeout. Mississippi State responded with a 4-1 run, forcing LSU to take a timeout trailing, 18-16. The Tigers scored three of the following four rallies to tie the set at 19, causing the Bulldogs to use their first timeout of the match. After both clubs exchanged points and timeouts to a 24-24 tie, Mississippi State’s Karli Schmidt landed back-to-back kills to give the Bulldogs a 26-24 set win.
Set 2
LSU pounced to a 7-2 lead highlighted by a 5-0 run that encouraged MSU to burn an early timeout. The Tigers stretched their lead to 16-9 before the Bulldogs rattled off four consecutive points, ultimately cutting the deficit to two points at 18-16. However, the Bayou Bengals would not allow them to get any closer and closed the set with a 6-1 run for the 25-17 victory. LSU logged a .333 hitting percentage in the frame while holding MSU to a .115 clip. Robinson led the Tigers with eight kills, followed by four kills on five errorless swings from Roberson.
Set 3
Mississippi State jumped out to a 5-1 lead before LSU cut the deficit to one thanks to a 3-0 run. MSU later used a 5-0 burst to push its lead up to seven at 19-12, which helped the Bulldogs pull away with a 25-14 win.
Set 4
LSU burned an early timeout down 8-4 but scored four consecutive points out of the break to tie the set 8-8. The Bulldogs did not relinquish the lead; instead, they ballooned their margin to 18-11 and walked away with a 25-19 victory.
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