The Ole Miss volleyball team lost their third consecutive match on Sunday, falling to No. 16 Kentucky at home 3-1 (23-25, 25-22, 17-25, 23-25). The Rebels won 14 matches in a row from early September to mid-October, but now find themselves the losers of three straight to some of the top talent in the SEC.
The silver lining in the Rebel loss came on the first point in the fourth set when Emily Stroup recorded her 1,415th kill, making her the all-time leader in kills in Ole Miss history. She came up big for the Rebels in key situations but could not will her team past a dominant Kentucky squad that has aspirations of a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
The Rebels started things out well in the first set, picking up four of the first five points against their more talented opponent. The teams battled back and forth through the middle part of the set with Kentucky holding a slight edge most of the way. Ole Miss managed to tie it up at 19-19 on a kill by senior outside hitter Stroup, one of many in a dazzling performance for her. Back-to-back kills by the Wildcats gave them a slight edge that they would not give up, and they closed out the set 25-23.
The second set was a competitive slugfest in which neither team was able to gain an edge most of the way. There were nine ties and four lead changes in the set highlighted by Stroup’s thunderous strikes and precise finesse shots. After Kentucky tied it at 16-16 Ole Miss claimed a lead that they would not concede, and a kill by Mulkey finished off the second set 25-22.
Tied at one set a piece, the two squads appeared fired up for a contentious third set, but fans were disappointed by a lackluster performance from a Rebel squad that looked outmatched at times. Ole Miss fought their way back into it on the backs of Stroup and fellow senior Nayo Warnell who both provided a spark on offense to close the gap to one at 12-11. That spark was put out quickly, however, and Kentucky exploded in the second half of the set to come away with a comfortable 25-17 victory.
Tempers flared in the third set as both benches were shown yellow cards in the second half of the frame. The first came after Kentucky coaches vigorously protested an overturned call, leading to the first referee showing a yellow card to one of the assistant coaches. The second yellow came later in the set when Ole Miss head coach Steven McRoberts continued to bark at the referee regarding a call that had occurred a few points before and the first referee showed a card to him.
Tempers appeared to dampen in the fourth set but the competition did not, as the final set in the match went down to the wire. Sophomore setter Lauren Bars faked out the Kentucky defense with a surprise kill to make it 23-22 but the Rebels conceded another point that triggered match point. With their backs against the wall Bars and Warnell managed to stuff an attempt at the net to bring it to 24-23, but Warnell was not able to reach the final shot and the Rebels fell 25-23.
Stroup finished the match with 23 kills on a .206 hitting percentage to lead the team. Bars recorded six kills to go along with 33 assists and 10 digs. Senior libero Nicole Purcell led the team with 17 digs and Sultemeier led the team with six total blocks.
Ole Miss must rebound quickly from this losing skid if they want to get back on track and earn a bid to the NCAA Tournament. They now move on to face Tennessee and Alabama on the road next weekend.
