SEATTLE >> Mississippi State took the long road to get to the NCAA Tournament.
After learning of their postseason assignment in the Pacific Northwest on Sunday, the Bulldogs departed Starkville, Miss., in two groups on Wednesday. One pack headed to Atlanta, the other to Houston, and the team regrouped in Seattle after their lengthy flights.
But after waiting 47 years to make a tournament appearance, the travel logistics weren’t about to slow the Bulldogs down entering today’s first-round match with Hawaii at Alaska Airlines Arena.
“We’re definitely still on that adrenaline rush,” Mississippi State coach Julie Darty Dennis said after the Bulldogs’ practice on Thursday.
Mississippi State (25-5) finds itself in new territory entering its NCAA Tournament debut today against a Rainbow Wahine team making the program’s 39th appearance and 28th straight in the sub-regional hosted by Washington. The Huskies, the No. 15 national seed, face Brown in today’s second match.
The Big West champion Rainbow Wahine (21-7) arrived in Seattle on Wednesday morning for the program’s fifth postseason appearance in Hec Edmundson Pavilion since 2010. They had their first practice on the Washington campus Wednesday night and kept the energy high in a 90-minute session on Thursday, their final full practice in advance of today’s 2 p.m. match, which will be streamed on ESPN+.
“Everything is to get to this point, and it’s almost like every emotion, everything just turns up,” UH middle blocker Amber Igiede said on the eve of her second NCAA Tournament appearance. “Your adrenaline turns up. It’s what you work for this whole season and hopefully it pays off.”
The Wahine have spent the week preparing for an up-tempo Mississippi State attack that helped the Bulldogs defy preseason expectations to place second in a Southeastern Conference race that produced seven NCAA Tournament teams.
The Bulldogs went 5-15 in the shortened 2020-21 season, and Dennis said the experience helped the Bulldogs develop their chemistry on and off the court. Mississippi State was voted 12th out of 13 teams in the SEC preseason poll in August and the extra dose of motivation helped the Bulldogs set program records for overall and conference victories, going 16-2 in conference play to finish a game behind defending national champion Kentucky.
“We knew there was something special when we saw our ranking in the SEC,” sophomore outside hitter Shania Cromartie said. “We just knew we wanted to prove everyone wrong. At the beginning of the season there was a huge mentality shift.”
The Bulldogs also altered their on-court personality prior to the season. After going with high and wide sets last season, Dennis implemented a new system based on beating blockers to the spot.
The speed-based attack opened the way for senior Gabby Waden to average 3.41 kills per set, followed by Lauren Myrick at 3.15 and the 5-foot-9 Cromartie at 2.58.
Senior setters Margaret Dean and Gabby Coulter joined the program as transfers last season and thrived in the increased pace this season.
“In our first three seasons we were not going that fast. We really just said let’s just do it this year and tried with our setters to go as fast as we can,” Dennis said.
“They both have experience going high, going fast, just going at a lot of different tempos. So they were willing and able to adapt to our new system and try it. They just wanted to see if it worked and it did work, so we’re just going to keep going with it.”
The Bulldogs closed the regular season on a school-record 13-match winning streak and at No. 23 in the AVCA coaches poll after making the program’s first appearance in the national rankings on Nov. 22.
The Wahine saw a similar style in a five-set loss to UC Santa Barbara in their regular-season finale last Saturday and the coaches got into the action to help simulate the pace they’ll see today.
“Today was a lot of good energy again. Good intensity in the gym,” UH assistant coach Nick Castello said after Thursday’s practice. “A lot of movement, not really a lot of breaks and they bought into that and continued to push.
“That’s what we’re trying to do, increase the level of intensity so (today) when the madness happens we’re ready to handle it.”
In studying UH, Dennis came away impressed with UH’s acumen in an attack led by Big West Player of the Year Brooke Van Sickle and fellow all-conference honorees Igiede and Skyler Williams in the middle and setter Kate Lang.
“They’re smart, they’re savvy, they’re great volleyball players,” Dennis said of the Wahine. “They play with a lot of finesse. They’re not as physical as what we’ve seen in the SEC, but I think they’re just a group of well coached, well prepared, good volleyball players. Great ball control and we’re going to have to make sure we serve tough and get them out of system.”
NCAA Volleyball Tournament
At Alaska Airlines Arena, Seattle
Hawaii (21-7) vs. Mississippi State (25-5)
>> When: Today, 2 p.m.
>> Radio: 1420-AM/92.7-FM
>> Online video: ESPN+ subscription required
