Lady Vols Down Mississippi State in Four Sets

Friday, March 5

Knoxville

6:30 PM

University of Tennessee

7-6,7-6SEC

Mississippi State

4-11,4-11SEC

Mississippi St.

Tennessee

March 05, 2021 | Volleyball

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Morgahn Fingall's career-high 19 kills spurred the Lady Vol volleyball team to victory Friday night at Thompson-Boling Arena as Tennessee defeated Mississippi State in four sets (25-17, 22-25, 25-22, 25-14).

The sophomore right side continued her torrid pace this spring with her fifth-straight double-digit kill outing. Fingall hit .319 on the night, while also coming away with six digs and two total blocks.

In the middle, Danielle Mahaffey scored nine kills on a .429 attack percentage and 10 total blocks – seven solo and three assisted. Her seven solo blocks Friday tied the single-match school-record set by Robin Maine against Eastern Kentucky on November 13, 1982.

Lily Felts notched her sixth double-double of the season, tallying 10 kills and 15 digs. Setter Natalie Hayward kept the Lady Vols in rhythm all night, dealing out 39 assists, while putting down seven kills of her own.

Tennessee (7-6, 7-6 SEC) was solid on both sides of the net, hitting .282 as a team offensively and totaling 13 blocks as a team defensively. Mississippi State (4-11, 4-11 SEC) played scrappy all night and kept the middle two sets close, but could not match UT's attack efficiency as it hit just .185 on the night.

UT took control of the opening set as it dominated the middle portion of the opener, using a 15-6 scoring advantage to open up an 18-11 lead. After flashing its ability to put Mississippi State away in the first set, winning 25-17, Tennessee was unable to control the second set as the Bulldogs fought back to win the second, 25-22.

Tennessee and Mississippi State battled back-and-forth in the third set before UT was able to finish off MSU, 25-22.

After falling behind 7-3 in the fourth, the Big Orange went on a 19-4 run, opening up a massive 22-10 lead. The Lady Vols pushed it to 24-11, but Mississippi State fought-off match point three times until Fingall scored her 19th and final kill of the night to polish off the Tennessee victory.

UP NEXT
Tennessee and Mississippi State return to the court Saturday night in Thompson-Boling Arena for the final match of the series. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. ET and the match can be streamed on SEC Network+.

QUOTABLES

Head Coach Eve Rackham Watt

On what aspect of the game was most important…
"I think that's hard to answer because it changed set to set in terms of what we relied on. As the match went our service pressure and what we were able to do from the service line disrupted their offense and our block was able to come alive and contain them. There were times in the second and third sets we had to grind through some points and stay patient as attackers even though it wasn't pretty at times. Certain things changed from set to set as far as what was working and wasn't working for us."

Sophomore Morgahn Fingall

On her new career-high 19 kills and how she helped the team tonight…
"Stay patient, see what set you have, and if it is good attack it, and if it's not there keep it in play. I wasn't even aware that I had that many kills but for me, as I'm growing on the right side I'm just learning how I can help the team."