Ole Miss Volleyball opened SEC play against Arkansas and Oklahoma on the road this past weekend, handling the Sooners 3-2 but falling to Arkansas 3-2 to bring the Lady Rebel’s overall record to 9-4.
Arkansas (lost 3-2)
The Lady Rebels traveled to Fayetteville, Ark., Friday, Sept. 26 to take on the Razorbacks at Barnhill Arena and came up short in their SEC opener.
Gabi Placide led the Rebels with 16 kills, while Tessa Jones delivered a season-high of 11 kills on an impressive .529 hitting percentage. Keirstyn Carloton added a career-best 10 kills, and Carly Paugh chipped in during key moments.
The Rebels came out strong behind Jones, who threw out three early kills to help build a 10-9 lead in the first set. Ole Miss continued to hold a lead 16-13, but Arkansas countered with a 8-2 run to close out the set 25-21.
To start the second set, Paugh gave Ole Miss some fire with back-to-back kills, while Mokihana Tufono spread the ball around to Carlton and Jones to get the offense going. Veteran hitters Placide and Shayla Meyer also got rolling late to lead the Rebels to the 25-20 set win.
Arkansas jumped ahead early in set No. 3, but Bell Bonanno’s serving run helped Ole Miss rally. The Rebels erased an 11-7 deficit and took the lead 18-17 thanks to strong swings from Meyer. An overturned call on what could have been a set-clinching kill from Meyer shifted the momentum, and the Razorbacks pulled away with a 26-24 set win.
Ole Miss regrouped to dominate behind its freshmen in the fourth set. Carlton and Paugh combined for timely kills, and the Rebels used a 5-1 run to take control 18-14. The Rebels held steady, with Paugh sealing the set on a kill to send the match to a fifth set.
Arkansas wasted no time, jumping to a 6-2 advantage quickly; the Razorbacks never trailed from that point on. Meyer attempted to get a spark back for Ole Miss with a kill and block, but the Rebels could not compete to close the gap and fell 15-8 in the final set.
Oklahoma (won 3-2)
The Lady Rebels stayed on the road, traveling to Norman, Okla., on Sunday, Sept. 28 to square off against the Lady Sooners..
Placide once again led the team with 21 kills, followed by Meyer with 17 kills. Tufono stepped up at the net and led the team with six blocks and 46 assists.
Ole Miss jumped out to a quick lead thanks to errors by Oklahoma; however, the two teams went back-and-forth throughout the whole first set after service mistakes on both ends. Meyer delivered big kills and Tufono kept the score tight, until a couple kills by Oklahoma won the first set for the home team 26-24.
Placide began the second set with two kills to put the Rebels up 2-1. Ole Miss and Oklahoma rallied until the Sooners took a lead 9-6. That did not stop the Rebels, though, as they went on a 4-0 run to bring the score to 17-12. Kills by Meyer and Jones secured the set win 25-17.
Ole Miss came into the third set a little rocky, and Oklahoma held the lead for more than half the set. A Cameron Bradley ace tied the score at 8-8, and the Rebels took their first lead in the set after a Sooner error.
Oklahoma followed with a timely 7-1 run to take a 15-11 lead, only for Ole Miss to tie the score at 18-18 moments later courtesy of a kill by Placide. The set stayed close, but a couple of Rebel errors helped the Sooners take the win 27-25.
With backs against the wall down two sets to one, Ole Miss trailed early in the fourth set 4-1. The Rebels came back later in the set with two kills to take the lead 17-16. The Sooners made the Rebels fight until the end, but Meyer closed the set with a kill to take the Rebels into the fifth.
Placide put up numerous kills in the final set to spark a 4-0 Rebel run. Ole Miss never let Oklahoma back in the match and closed the set out 15-9 for the team’s first conference win of the season.
What’s next?
The Rebels are back in action Friday, Oct. 3 at 6 p.m. at the Gillom Center in Oxford to take on the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats. They follow that up with a home match on Sunday at 2 p.m. against the Auburn Tigers.
