STARKVILLE — It still burns Jenny Hazelwood she’s able to fill out her NCAA women’s volleyball tournament bracket.
Mississippi State’s third-year coach knows she wouldn’t do it if her team was in the field and could live without her projections.
“We’re closer than I initially thought we were, Hazelwood said. “There’s two parts of the equation — Teams have to have the overall win total and then get the signature wins. The harder part is getting the key wins, and we did that part.”
MSU defeated No. 25 Kentucky 3-0 on Oct. 14 at Humphrey Coliseum and beat Baylor 3-1 in September in a tournament in Beaumont, Texas. However, MSU (12-17, 7-12 Southeastern Conference) lost eight matches in a row after beating Kentucky, including five by scores of 3-0.
For a program that has never finished with a winning record in the SEC, Hazelwood, who also never has been in a NCAA tournament as a player or as a coach, are all going through the growing pains of building a program.
“I think it’s all part of having a bunch of players that have never been there before,” Hazelwood said. “I think there was a stretch where it seemed our girls thought they didn’t have to play their best to win.”
Hazelwood said this week she still battles the entitlement issue with her team because MSU is in a Bowl Championship Series conference with other powerful volleyball programs.
“That SEC patch on your jersey doesn’t hand you victories, and it frustrates me at times we still play that way,” Hazelwood said. “You can lose to anybody you play if you’re not physically and mentally prepared. You would like given the history of the program, that wouldn’t be a hard lesson to have learned already.”
Despite having a 15-45 SEC record in three years as coach at her alma mater, MSU officials support the plan Hazelwood has to get MSU competing for Western Division championships.
“I’d like to think I’m somebody that sees the process along with the results, and when you look at what Jenny has done to get this program to being competitive, that’s nothing but encouraging,” MSU Director of Athletics Scott Stricklin said. “I want all of our programs to be in postseason, and that needs to be the goal, but I also understand that before you start winning consistently you have to be competitive with those schools.”
Stricklin said this week he appreciates the rebuilding project Hazelwood, who still holds several school records, has undertaken.
“She has taken on the role of the face of volleyball in the state of Mississippi and still needs to recruit way out of the area because the sport isn’t at the level it needs to be locally,” Stricklin said. “Not only does she expect herself to win matches, but she is trying to promote the sport as well. That’s just not easy.”
Stricklin said Thursday he’ll work with the MSU marketing department because he “would love” to do another match at Humphrey Coliseum and will try make sure the opening weekend matches once again coincide with student tickets going on sale.
“Both of those things were in my mind and in the minds of so many people around the program and the department as a whole, a success,” Stricklin said.
SEC coaches Monday honored senior outside hitter Caitlin Rance and freshman middle blocker Lainey Wyman with All-SEC honors. Rance, from Kingwood, Texas, earned second-team honors, while Wyman, from Plainfield, Ill., was named to the seven-player All-Freshman Team.
Rance led the team with 443 kills, third-most in a season at MSU, and for the second consecutive year finished second in the league in kills. She ranked second in the SEC with 490 points, and concluded her four-year career with 1,138 kills, seventh-most in school history.
Rance started all 29 matches and reached double figures in kills in 24 matches,
including a career-high 27 kills in a win against Auburn on Oct. 9.
“She’s probably the most improved player throughout a four-year career at Mississippi State to the point where she was playing at an unbelievably high level in his final season,” Hazelwood said. “A lot of that is tribute to her work ethic.”
Wyman had 108 blocks, third-most in the SEC, and the most by a freshman at MSU. She was second on the team with 247 kills and led freshmen in the SEC in blocks and kills.
Wyman, one of MSU’s two 29-match starters, had four or more blocks in 15 matches, and averaged 3.7 blocks per match for the season.
“She’s a competitor,” Hazelwood said. “She wants the ball when the game is on the line. There’s a reason why I celebrated when Lainey committed to us. I knew she was that good right away.”
Hazelwood admits she has seen sophomore setter Paris Perret mature. Perret has had 30 sets in each of MSU’s 12 wins this season. The Frisco, Texas native also had six double-doubles thanks to improved play on defense that allowed her to dig the ball in the middle of the court.
Hazelwood, who is admittedly hard on Perret because she used to play that position at MSU, said Perret’s ability to balance her play will help the team get better.
“She took it as if we lose it’s always going to be my fault and carried that burden with her,” Hazelwood said. “She affects a lot of why we win or loss, but don’t let it overtake you. To her credit, she is so much more mentally prepared to succeed.”
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