STARKVILLE, Miss – Chelsea Grant combined for 27 kills and one double-double in two matches against Power Five conference squads, but the Lamar University volleyball team dropped a nail biter to Mississippi State 3-2 (17-25 28-26, 13-25, 25-22, 7-15) followed by a loss to No. 5 Kansas 3-0  (17-25, 14-25, 9-25) Saturday afternoon in the  Bulldog Invitational at MSU.
 
Double-doubles from each Carlyn Stella and Grant really spurred on Cardinals (0-3), who gave the Bulldogs (1-1) all they could handle for five sets in the first match. For the second time in her career, Chelsea Grant recorded a double-double, but for the first time she led the team in both kills and digs.
 
The senior, who is still adjusting to her move on the left pin, recorded 17 kills and 16 digs.
 
"She's hitting a really tough jump serve, is digging balls at a high level, and trying things that she wouldn't even do four months ago in the spring," said head coach Alan Edwards. "Our offense looks completely different right now. She needed match like that and it was really nice to see some of the things she did.
 
"I felt like we have never played to the level that we did in sets two and four," he said. "Our high points were really, really high."
 
MSU jumped out to a big lead in the first set, as much as eight by the time it held a 15-7. The second set was much tighter and featured 15 tied scores and seven lead changes. The Bulldogs eventually worked up to a 22-17 lead late in the set, but LU would run off a 6-1 run to tie it at 23-23.
 
A bad set by MSU's Savannah Cressman, a kill from Grant and an ace issued by Stella made it 22-20 when the Dogs called a time out. They returned to the floor and Tomar Thomas powered a kill to the floor before Emily Hill returned the favor to make it 23-21. Two errors from MSU tied it at 23-23.
 
Hill slammed down a kill to give State a 24-23 lead, but Grant answered with a kill to tie it back up and popped another one to make it 25-24. After a service error made it 25-25, Amy Hollowell jumped in with a kill to make it 26-25. Evie Grace Singlelton tied it at 26-26, but Hollowell knocked in another kill and Kelly Crow recorded a service ace to end it.
 
MSU ran away quick with the third set and built an early 10-3 lead.
 
In the fourth set, LU gained control of the match after it broke an 18-18 tie on a block from Stella and Thomas. It finished out the match on kills from Grant and Murielle Hlavac, blocks from Stella and Thomas again and an ace issued by Thomas.
 
"Early in the match, we started going through that period where we feel people out to see if we want to play," said Edwards. "We really have to stop that. Our high points were ball control and system driven. When we struggled, our ball control collapsed. It's all part of a program growing up."
 
In the fifth, MSU jumped out to a 6-3 lead, and Lamar rallied to get it to 7-5 on two kills from Stella. The Bulldogs were able to get it back to five at 10-5, and four was as close as the Cardinals would get.
 
"Level of play puts you in places you haven't been before, hopefully that happens more often," said Edwards. "We played well for two and a half sets, but you have to win three. We went to five several times in my first season here, but none were to the level of a Mississippi State."
 
Stella's double-double was 11 kills and 15 digs, the first double-double of her career. Hollowell and Thomas each had seven kills, Hlavac had four and Ivette Dim had three. Ashley Ellis led the Cards in assists at 22, followed by 19 from Haley Morton.
 
Freshman Emily Hill led all players with 18 kills, and Bali Leffall-Young (11) and Singleton (13) each registered in double-figures. Riley Duzenack had 39 assists in the contest and Payton Harris had 20 digs.
 
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In the second match of the day, LU really hung tough with the highly ranked Jayhawks (3-0) in the first set, but a 7-3 run really helped Kansas gain an edge it could build on – largely due to four errors.
 
In the second set the Cardinals went toe-to-toe with the 'Hawks and made it 7-7 when Tomar Thomas slammed home a kill. From there KU ran off four-straight points and had a 5-1 run that forced LU to call a timeout. The teams went back-and-forth from there until Kansas put up a five-point run to make it 22-14.
 
Kansas only gave up 10 attack errors and nine service errors, Lamar had 24 and eight respectively. The Jayhawks had only three errors in the first two sets apiece, and four in the third.
 
"That is a team that is going to be low error. At the end of the day, volleyball is a serve and serve-receive game," said Edwards. "It comes down to who makes the less errors. They gave absolutely nothing away.
 
"Chels and Carlyn were absolutely great for about a set and a half, but (Kansas) made some really good adjustments," he said. "They really started to pin down our outsides."
 
Grant finished with 10 kills, and all of them were in the sets. Three of her six attack errors were in the third game. Stella finished the day with five kills- all of her points were also in the first two games.
 
"The move of Chelsea to the left is going to pay huge dividends for this team. We continue to talk about the fact this we're nowhere close to the team that we'll be in four weeks. It's still early," said Edwards. "We'll continue to work and get better. There was a lot of bright spots today."
 
Three Cardinals had four digs in the contest, Grant, Hlavac and libero Erin Pequeno.
 
"Erin played extremely well at the libero spot," he said. "We're struggling to get the passing that we need out of that spot and someone needs to step up. She did a good job and it'll be hers until someone decides to take it."
 
Ellis (11) and Morton (7) combined for 18 assists.
 
Kelsie Payne had 10 kills to lead Kansas. Ainise Havill had 31 assists and Cassie Wait had 12 digs.
 
Lamar heads just down the road next weekend, to the Houston Invitational. There it will take on the host Cougars, Idaho State and Texas Southern. The Cards' first match of that tourney is against TSU at 10 a.m. Friday.