10/10/01
MEN'S TENNIS
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. -- The Mississippi State doubles team of Luiz Carvalho and Jerome Le Belicard's bid to make the main draw of the ITA All-American Championships ended Tuesday, as the Bulldog pair fell in first-round action of the qualifying draw. The event, which will culminate with the main draw this Thursday-Sunday, is the first major college tournament of the 2001-02 college tennis season.

Carvalho and Le Belicard, who had won four times over the weekend in the prequaliyfing field, dropped their opening match in the qualifying draw 8-4 to San Diego State's 46th-ranked duo of Oliver Maiberger and Ryan Redondo Tuesday. Carvalho and Le Belicard are now 5-3 on the season.

The main draw of the All-American begins Thursday. MSU will be represented in the 64-player singles field by sophomore Romain Ambert. Ambert, ranked 17th nationally, is coming off winning the singles title of the Southern Collegiate Championships in Athens, Ga., two weeks ago. State junior Rene-Charles Combette, ranked 33rd in the country, is an entry into the main draw, but is doubtful to play due to an injury that he has not fully recovered from.

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Arkansas State won the event by three shots over tournament-host Missouri after shooting a 280 in the tournament's last day. Purdue finished four shots back to take third place. Baylor finished fourth.

MSU veteran Codie Mudd shot a final-round 76 to finish in a tie for 28th place. Mudd won medalist honors in State's last tournament, the Mason Rudolph Collegiate Championships. Kellen Maurer shot a three-over-par 74 to sit in a tie for 58th place. Joe Deraney finished two shots behind Maurer to finish in a tie for 67th and Carl Sutton finished in 82nd place.

Individual honors went to Wixson Huffstetler of Arkansas State and Mark McBride of Missouri, who shot six-under-par for the tournament.

Mississippi State will continue fall-season play at the Tennessee Tournament of Champions, October 22-23, in Knoxville, Tenn.

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Soubis cruised through her first-round match at the Riviera Tennis Club, claiming a 6-4, 6-1 win over UNLV's 80th-ranked Agnieszka Abram to advance into the second-round match Tuesday afternoon against fifth-seeded and 28th-ranked Sarah Borwell of Houston.

In her second-round match, the Moulins, France, native took Borwell to the full three sets before falling 6-1, 6-7 (7), 6-0. The loss eliminated Soubis from qualifying for main draw action.

Head coach Tracy Lane's Lady Bulldogs return to action Oct. 11-14, competing in the Middle Tennessee Fall Classic in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

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10/09/01
WOMEN'S GOLF
STARKVILLE, Miss. --- The Mississippi State men's golf team fired rounds of 309-300 (609) to sit in 14th place heading into the final round at the Purina Classic in St. Charles, Mo. Illinois holds a two-shot lead over Kansas after firing a two-round total of 569 at the par-71 Missouri Bluff Golf Club.

Codie Mudd, who won medalist honors two weeks ago at the Mason Rudolph Collegiate Golf Championship, sits at two-over-par (71-73) after two rounds, good enough for a tie for 16th place. Kellen Maurer fired a 79-73 to hold a tie for 61st place. Joe Deraney totaled a 153 while Carl Sutton fired a total of 160.

Mississippi State sits eight shots out of 13th place, which is held by Rice. Tournament-host Missouri is one shot out of second place after shooting a 574-total. Mark McBride of Missouri holds the individual lead after firing a 68-68 (-6).

The tournament will conclude tomorrow with a single round.

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Soubis opens her bid to advance to main draw action with 80th-ranked Agnieszka Abram of UNLV in a 1:30 p.m. CST match.

Soubis has played solid tennis for the MSU thus far this season. Through the first two events of her final fall campaign, the Moulins, France, native has posted a 3-3 record. She played her best tennis of the fall at the Sept. 28-30 Roberta Alison Classic, going 2-1 on the weekend to capture third place in the B Draw.

Tuesday's match is Soubis' second match this season against a player ranked in the ITA's pre-season rankings. Soubis dropped a tough 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 decision to Georgia Tech's Jamie Wong (t100) in the season-opening St. Mary's Health System Classic on Sept. 22.

A first-round win Tuesday would advance the Lady Bulldog netter into Tuesday afternoon's second round. The third and final round of qualifying action will be held Wednesday. Three wins would advance Soubis into the tournament's main draw.

The Lady Bulldogs return to team action Oct. 11-14 at the Middle Tennessee Fall Classic in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

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10/08/01
SOCCER
BATON ROUGE, La. - Mississippi State (8-4, 1-1 SEC) got a pair of goals from its offense and a brilliant performance from its defense as the Bulldogs collected just their second victory in the series with LSU in a 2-0 victory over the homestanding Tigers (6-3-1, 1-2 SEC) Sunday afternoon at the LSU Soccer Complex.

State got all the scoring it would need from freshmen Amy Van Zandt and Jessi Moore's goals, respectively, but LSU was hampered by a stingy MSU defense that allowed just three good looks on goal by the Purple and Gold. Van Zandt netted her eighth goal and fifth assist of the season to lead State offensively, while goalkeeper Krystal Werges collected a pair of saves in tallying her third shutout of the campaign for the defense.

The win helped State match its 2000 win total and effectively snapped a five-game unbeaten streak by the Tigers. The win also stopped LSU's three-game winning streak over the Bulldogs, marking State's first win in the series since a 1-0 win in Baton Rouge on Sept. 12, 1997.

"Today was an important win as it gave our squad the knowledge that, when we play to our full potential, we are very competitive in the SEC," said Mississippi State head coach Neil McGuire. "After Friday's disappointing performance (at Arkansas), our team rebounded and showed what great character and resolve they have."

Mississippi State got off the first four shots of the game, nearly scoring on Amber Rose's shot just 42 seconds into the contest, before Van Zandt lit up the scoreboard on a 20-yard floater over the head of LSU keeper Bonnie Otillio in the 20th minute (19:02). LSU collected its first shot of the game in the eighth minute (7:17), but could not find another hole in State's 'D' the rest of the first half, allowing MSU to go into the break with a 7-1 shot cushion.

State came out of the second half gates with a vengeance, firing off three more shots in the first eight minutes of play to quickly set the pace of the second period. Moore got an assist from Van Zandt in the 86th minute (85:34) and gave MSU a 2-0 lead with a shot that made its way inside the far post, then allowed the State defense to finish what it had started. LSU got its first good look at the MSU nets in the 88th tick (87:24), but was stymied by a defender save from Morgan McDonald, who planted her heels on the end line and cleared the ball with a header.

"We must now look to fine tune both offensively and defensively in preparation for our game with Auburn," McGuire said. "With us being tied for first in the Western division, this is an important time for us."

The Bulldogs will return to action on Friday when the team opens a four-game homestand against visiting Auburn at the Mississippi State Soccer Field. Game time is set for 4 p.m. State's "Push For 1,000 Fans" will be highlighted by the team's first regional television appearance on SEC-TV since 1997. Admission to all 2001 MSU home soccer games is free of charge.

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Carvalho and Le Belicard, who won twice on Saturday, notched two more victories Sunday to place themselves into qualifying draw, which begins Tuesday at the Lincoln Tennis Center at Stone Mountain.

The MSU duo opened play Sunday with an 8-4 triumph over Paul Goode and Jason Varela of North Carolina-Greensboro. They followed that with a 9-8(5) tiebreak win over Arizona's tandem of Whi Kim and Tommy Lloyd. Carvalho and Le Belicard must now win two matches in qualifying to move on to the weekend's main draw, which begins Thursday.

In singles play Sunday, Le Belicard's bid to make the qualifying draw came up short, as he dropped a 7-5, 6-1 decision to Baylor's Zoltan Papp.

MSU already has representation in the main draw. Bulldogs Romain Ambert and Rene-Charles Combette are automatic entries into the 64-player singles field. Ambert, ranked 17th nationally, is coming off winning the singles title of the Southern Collegiate Championships in Athens, Ga., two weeks ago. Combette, ranked 33rd in the country, is expected to see his first action of the fall.

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Arkansas got an eight-block, eight-kill performance from Jennifer Haaser and five blocks from Annesia Crawford to turn back the Bulldogs 30-25, 30-21, 3-22 and remain unbeaten in Southeastern Conference competition. All-SEC performer Libby Windell had a team-high nine kills.

It was the seventh consecutive win for Arkansas, which opened the year at 1-5, and the third straight setback and fifth in the last six matches for Mississippi State.

State never led in the match but stayed close in the opening game before Arkansas used a 5-2 game-ending scoring run to nip the Bulldogs. Windell registered five kills and Arkansas raced to an 11-3 lead in a 30-21 UA win in game two. The Lady Razorbacks hit at a match-low .161 clip in the third game but an 11-error hitting performance by the Bulldogs enabled Arkansas to race home with a 30-21 win, their 16th in as many volleyball matches with Mississippi State.

Misty Hubenthal paced the Bulldogs with a match-high 13 kills, while Nicole Broome had a career-high eight and Jennifer Rousey seven. Senior setter Dawn Steinhauser reached double-figures in digs with 11, with teammates Tanika Taylor and Misty Hubenthal just off the pace with nine each.

Mississippi State hits the road for its next four matches, testing Georgia Friday (Oct. 12) in Athens, Ga., before venturing on to Gainesville, Fla., for a Sunday (Oct. 14) meeting with seventh-ranked Florida.

MSU's tests SEC East foes Tennessee and Kentucky (Oct. 26-28) in the Bulldogs' next home competition at the Newell-Grissom Building.

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10/06/01
MEN'S TENNIS
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. -- One Bulldog is through to the third round, while three others were eliminated in their opening matches Friday, in the prequalifying stages of the ITA All-American Championships. The event is the first major college tournament of the 2001-02 college tennis season.

Mississippi State junior Jerome Le Belicard notched a pair of straight-set victories Friday to advance to the third round of the prequalifying draw, which will continue Saturday at the Lincoln Tennis Center at Stone Mountain.

The Nice, France, native was a 7-6(7), 6-2 winner over Texas' Drew Hoskins in Friday's first round and followed that with a solid 6-2, 6-3 triumph over Joel Carney of Bowling Green later in the day. Le Belicard must win three more matches in the prequalifiers to reach Tuesday and Wednesday's qualifying rounds.

Bulldogs who fell in their first round matches Friday were David Ruiz, Luiz Carvalho and Matt Armstrong. Ruiz dropped a tough three-set affair to California's Chase Exon 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. Carvalho was a 6-1, 7-6(4) victim of Louisville's Cody Conley. Armstrong fell 6-2, 6-2 to Florida State's Rodrigo Laub.

Prequalifying doubles play will begin Saturday. State has two teams -- Armstrong/Ruiz and Carvalho/Le Belicard -- entered into that draw.

The main draw of the All-American is slated to begin next Thursday, Oct. 11. Bulldogs Romain Ambert and Rene-Charles Combette have been named automatic entries into the 64-player singles field. Ambert, ranked 17th nationally, is coming off winning the singles title of the Southern Collegiate Championships in Athens, Ga., two weeks ago. Combette, ranked 33rd in the country, will be seeing his first action of the fall.

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The Bulldogs were paced by freshman Meggan Hodge (18:17), who finished in 23rd place on the Notre Dame Burke Golf Course. Finishing close behind Hodge was junior Christine Zawaski (18:28), who placed 36th in the 5K event.

Juniors Ronni Watjus (18:51) and Joey Hansen (19:27) came in 67th & 100th, respectively. Rounding out the squad's finish Friday were freshmen Trina Hobyan (19:33) in 107th place and Tiffany McWilliams (20:02) in 114th place. Bulldog freshman Cassie Hanan (21:46) finished in 132nd place.

"The coaching staff was really pleased with the girls and the times they ran," coach Al Schmidt said, "especially in the rain and cold they ran in today. We are getting better every race this year, and, hopefully, we will reach our goals for the season."

The individual winner, Notre Dame's Lauren King, finished with a time of 17:20. The Fighting Irish squad came in first as well with a score of 58.

The Bulldogs will be back in action on Oct. 13 in Greenville, S.C., at the Pre-National Meet on the Furman Golf Course.

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The loss effectively snapped a three-game winning streak for the Bulldogs whose defense was also shining after three-straight shutouts. The outcome also snapped a two-game SEC unbeaten streak for the Bulldogs and moved Arkansas to 4-0 against State in Fayetteville.

"Although very disappointed with the loss, as a coach, I have to be cognizant of the fact that eight players in our starting lineup were new to this level," said Mississippi State head coach Neil McGuire. "Arkansas played exceptionally well and had tremendous ball movement. They took full advantage of all that we gave them."

Pam Pesnell got the Lady 'Backs off the mark just six minutes (5:46) into the contest when she took a brilliant service into the box from Mindy Hollingsworth and finished with a diving header past an outstretched Werges to put the hosts up 1-0. State escaped a scoring chance in the 29th minute when Werges left her line to challenge, but Mary Fisher Patterson scooped up a loose ball and cleared. Jennifer Brashear, however, gave Arkansas ahead 2-0 less than six minutes later (34:24) when she used a left-footed shot to ricochet a shot off Werges into the State goal.

The Lady 'Backs went into the halftime break with a two-goal lead and a 5-4 shot advantage. State fired off three shots on goal and nearly lit up the first half scoreboard on Moore's direct free kick from outside the penalty area, but Lindsay Haywood was well up to the test of Moore's bender, collecting the shot inches from trickling over the end line.

Arkansas senior Holly Collins extended the Lady 'Back lead to 3-0 in the 58th minute (57:36) when she bent a corner kick into the Mississippi State nets. Moore put the Bulldogs on the scoreboard in the 63rd minute (62:38) when she finished a breakaway with a shot from 27-yards out that escaped the outstretched finger of Arkansas netminder Lindsay Haywood.

Collins used a penalty kick in the 77th minute (76:53) to provide an insurance goal for Arkansas and provide the final score.

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LSU out-hit the Bulldogs .316-.071, building up a 52-32 advantage in kills.

"It's difficult to win when you don't generate much offense," said Bulldog head coach Brenda Bowlin. "We played pretty well on defense and did a nice job blocking tonight. But it seemed like every time we'd get close, we made critical mistakes on offense that killed our momentum."

For just the second time this season MSU's offensive leader failed to reach double digits in kills. Sophomore Jennifer Rousey came closest with nine kills. Another sophomore, Lauren Bounds, followed with seven. Misty Hubenthal, the Bulldogs' top producer on offense this season, was held to a season-low five kills.

Katie Carraro registered a team-best 11 digs while Hilary Chambers added five blocks. Nicole Broome set season-highs with five kills and three block assists.

Kyra Lancon's match-high 14 kills led a trio of Tigers in twin-digits. Meghan Bedford had 12 and Meagan Davis, on a .563 hitting night, chipped in 10. Jenny Greco claimed match honors in digs with 15.

The Bulldogs close out weekend play and a four-match SEC homestand Sunday at 2 p.m., hosting SEC Western Division-leading Arkansas (8-5, 5-0). The Lady Razorbacks notched their sixth consecutive win Friday night, blanking Mississippi 3-0 in Oxford.

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10/05/01
CROSS COUNTRY - TRACK
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Mississippi State's cross country team travels to South Bend, Ind., on Friday for the Notre Dame Invitational.

Coach Al Schimdt's squad is running for the first time since a 15th-place showing at the Great American Classic on Sept. 21. Other teams running in the Notre Dame Invitational include Michigan, who finished 14th in last year's NCAA Cross Country Championship, Indiana and host Notre Dame.

The Bulldogs look to juniors Joey Hansen and Christine Zawaski to lead the team this weekend. Hansen will be running in her first meet of the year. She hopes to pick up where she left off last year, when she lead the Bulldogs in every meet she ran in as a sophomore. Zawaski is looking to improve on her last meet time of 18:32.6, which earned her a 60th place finish in the Great American Classic.

Also running on Friday for Coach Schmidt will be freshman Meggan Hodge (18:54.0), who placed 82nd in her last race at Rock Hill, S.C., as well as junior Ronni Watjus and freshmen Cassie Hanan, Trina Hobyan, Tiffany McWilliams, Jackie Rentschler and Mary Francis Wright.

The race will be run on the Notre Dame Burke Golf Course. Start time is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. CST.

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Mississippi State (6-6, 1-2 SEC) tests Louisiana State (6-5, 3-1 SEC) Friday at 7 p.m. in the Newell-Grissom Building and then plays host to divisional front-runner Arkansas (6-5, 4-0 SEC) in a 2 p.m. Sunday match. Both the Tigers and the Lady Razorbacks registered home wins over Auburn and Alabama last weekend to climb to the front of the early SEC Western Division standings.

"We know the challenge at hand," said Bulldog volleyball coach Brenda Bowlin. "Both teams have big talented athletes and both teams are playing well right now. It will take a strong team performance to compete with them."

The Bulldogs dropped a 3-1 decision at Samford Tuesday night in their lone mid-week competition. Misty Hubenthal led MSU in kills for the 10th time in 12 matches this season, totaling 17, while Tanika Taylor paced MSU on defense with a career-high and team season-best 23 digs. With six digs at Samford, Hubenthal became the first Bulldog this season to reach the century mark in both kills and digs. The Georgetown, Texas, product currently leads the club with 144 kills and 103 digs.

State will be battling to snap a run of five consecutive series wins by LSU. The Bulldogs' last home win over LSU was a 3-0 win in 1997, MSU's first season of competition in the Newell-Grissom Building.

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The prequalifying stages of the event will run Friday-Monday, qualifying rounds will be Tuesday and Wednesday, and the main draw of the tournament will be held next Thursday-Sunday.

State will have four players competing in the prequalies beginning tomorrow. In singles, Matt Armstrong, Luiz Carvalho, Jerome Le Belicard and David Ruiz will all be vying for a spot in next week's qualifying draw. Pairing up in the prequalifying doubles draw will be Armstrong and Ruiz, and Carvalho and Le Belicard.

Should those players make the qualifying rounds, they would then be looking to advance to the main draw, where MSU has already placed two players in singles. Romain Ambert and Rene-Charles Combette have been named automatic entries into the main draw of the All-American.

Ambert, ranked 17th nationally, is coming off winning the singles title of the Southern Collegiate Championships in Athens, Ga., two weeks ago. Combette, ranked 33rd in the country, will be seeing his first competition of the fall.

Following competition at the all-American, the Bulldogs' next action will be the MSU Alumni Match during the weekend of the MSU-LSU football game (Oct. 20). Time for the match will be determined once the football game time has been set.

The Alumni match will pit State's current squad against former members of the Bulldog team, most from the early 1990s. Among those expected to return to campus for that contest are all-Americans and former national No. 1 players Daniel Courcol, Laurent Orsini and Joc Simmons, as well as Christopher Damiens, Stephane Plot, Kristian Broems, Per Nilsson and Matt Pledger.

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Fresh off an physically-draining 1-0 victory over UTEP on Sunday at the Mississippi State Soccer Field, State will look to build on the momentum of its fastest 10-game start since 1997 this weekend. The Bulldogs will ride the emotions of the game, as well as its current three-game thrust that includes a school-record matching three consecutive shutouts against Chattanooga, Duquesne and UTEP, respectively, into the contest.

"Coming off a good weekend always helps in preparations for any match, especially conference play," said Mississippi State head coach Neil McGuire. "Our players are excited to begin SEC competition, and are motivated to test themselves against the best. Our practices have been competitive, intense and very productive. This, I feel, is due to our players wanting to prove themselves this weekend."

With a record that is not indicative of their strength, Arkansas will bring a very familiar team into the contest with nine starters returning in 2001 from last season's 7-11-3 squad. Sophomore forward Julie Williford has collected a brunt of the Lady Razorback goals this season and leads the team into the weekend with 13 points on nine goals and one assist.

However, Arkansas has gotten scoring from eight different players on its squad and will take advantage of its home field advantage Friday evening. The Lady 'Backs own a 3-0 mark against Mississippi State at Lady 'Back Field.

"Arkansas is a very good team who has the ability to possess the ball for long periods of time," McGuire said. "They have talented players and will be dangerous if we give them the chance to play their game. We have focused on us and what we can do so far this week, as I want Mississippi State to dictate the rhythm of the game, as opposed to allowing Arkansas to."

State continues to be led by Grapevine, Texas, duo Jessi Moore (5 G, 10 A) and Amy Van Zandt (7 G, 4 A) who have accounted for nearly 50 percent of the State scoring this season. The two will be joined by 12 other players who have scored for the Bulldogs this season.

But State has had a majority of its highlights come from its defense this season as well. Although freshman keeper Krystal Werges has been a virtual stalwart in the nets for the Bulldogs, State has relied on the prowess of its defensive front as well where its 'D' has allowed an average of 1.31 goals per game this season and has tallied 44 saves as a unit.

"The SEC is one of the finest in the nation, and each team is a formidable opponent," McGuire said. "Recruiting success has meant that all teams are in contention this season, so every game will be a major test. Not only are SEC teams physical, fit and aggressive, but they are talented soccer players who know the game. It will allow us to see where we stand on a national level, and that is exciting for us all."

Following Friday's action in Fayetteville, State will return to action on Sunday when the Bulldogs travel to Baton Rouge, La., to take on homestanding LSU (5-2-1). Game time is set for 1 p.m. at the LSU Soccer Complex.

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10/03/01
VOLLEYBALL
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- Samford's Bulldogs claimed their second win in as many matches against SEC foes this season, turning back Mississippi State (6-6) 3-1 Tuesday night at Seibert Hall.

SU (5-8) used a balanced offensive attack to snap an 18-match MSU series win streak and won the match 30-28, 27-30, 30-25, 30-26. Five Samford Bulldogs reached double digits in kills, with Shellie Ouldhouse leading the way with 16 kills. SU amassed a 67-58 edge in kills for the match. Earlier in the year Samford registered a 3-2 win at Mississippi.

"Lack of offensive production has been our downfall so many times this year," said coach Brenda Bowlin. "At critical times we made unforced errors that were very costly tonight. It also hurt that we had to suspend five of our players for tonight's for violating team rules. But even without those players we still had opportunities to win the match."

Misty Hubenthal paced the Bulldogs with 17 kills, with Hilary Chambers adding 13 and Jennifer Rousey 12. Tanika Taylor sparked Mississippi State on defense with a career-high 23 digs.

The Bulldogs erased en eight-point deficit in the fourth game to lead 25-23. But Samford, coached by former MSU volleyball standout Vickie Nichols, out-scored State 7-1 down the stretch to nail down the win.

Mississippi State returns to action Friday night at 7 p.m., playing host to SEC Western Division rival LSU in the Newell-Grissom Building.

The Bulldogs played minus five players who were suspended for the match for violating team rules.

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