Ole Miss volleyball started off conference play with a tightly contested match against Texas A&M. Unfortunately, Ole Miss could not hold on after an early lead. The Aggies prevailed in a hard-fought contest.
Wednesday’s match was a back-and-forth affair. The Rebels won the first set comfortably, dropped the second, squeaked out the third by a score of 28-26, but couldn’t stick the landing and fell 3-2 in their first five-game match of the season.
Though a loss is a loss, this should feel like a slight victory, as the Aggies entered the match 8-3, a record which dwarfs the Rebels who sat at 4-6.
Starting for the Rebels was Cammy Niesen, Payton Brgoch, Vivian Miller, Sasha Ratliff, Aly Borellis, Katie Corelli and Anna Bair. Niesen, Brgoch and Miller are the only three players to start each of the last three games (Florida A&M, South Alabama, Texas A&M).
The good news coming out of the loss is that Ole Miss was able to balance out their offense after their leading scorer, Bair, had dominated offensively in the out-of-conference schedule. Though this game was longer, Ole Miss had four players get into double-digit kills (including Bair, who has now hit the mark in all 11 games this season) which is impressive considering Bair leads the team in kills by over double the score of second place.
Brgoch had an especially efficient offensive night as she scored 11 kills and two errors on just 20 total attacks, good for an impressive attack percentage of .450.
Defensively, Borellis answered the call. She recorded a game-high 12 digs and added four blocks to her card for the night.
It looks as if the two biggest areas of improvement for the Rebs are establishing a presence at the net and becoming more efficient on offense. Ole Miss tallied just seven total blocks, a number which is minute compared to the 16 that A&M put up. The Rebels were also outdone offensively as they clocked a .230 attack percentage which was, once again, significantly lower than the Aggies, who had an efficiency rating of .317.
Next up, Ole Miss faces stiff competition as they travel to Fayetteville to take on the Arkansas Razorbacks, who are ranked No. 20. This will be a tough match for a team that has had its struggles early in the season, but every turnaround needs an upset and this has all the ingredients to get the Rebels going.
