Ole Miss traveled to Baton Rouge looking for a pair of victories to right the ship after starting conference play 0-2 with losses to Texas A&M and then No. 20 Arkansas. While they would lose their first match of the series on Friday, Saturday would yield a better result and give the Rebels their first conference win of the season.
The starting seven for Friday’s match-up were Cammy Niesen, Payton Brgoch, Vivian Miller, Sasha Ratliff, Aly Borellis, Katie Corelli and Anna Bair.
The Rebels dominated the first set by a score of 25-18 but dropped the next two by scores of 18-25 and 22-25 respectively. Ole Miss would force a fifth set after a nail-biting 26-24 set, but would ultimately lose 13-15.
Shockingly, Bair did not lead the team in kills. That honor went to Ratliff who had an impressive 21 kills on the night, which accounted for over a third of the team’s total points. This game also put Ratliff over the 100-kill mark for the season.
Though Bair did not lead the team, she did put up a solid 14 kills (including five aces). Bair would also reach a career milestone as she recorded her 1,000th career kill.
Brgoch had a strong defensive night, as she recorded eight of the team’s 11 blocks. It is also worth noting that there were 30 errors committed by the Rebels on Friday, which was almost double what the Tigers had.
Saturday’s game saw an almost identical lineup with just one adjustment, as Bair was replaced by Julia Dyess. This match was similarly hard fought for the Rebels, as they fell behind early after the Tigers won the first set 22-25. The Rebels were able to take a lead into set four with 25-21 and 25-16 victories in the second and third sets, but failed to put the match away and lost 25-18 in the fourth.
Unlike the last game, the Rebels refused to quit and pulled through to win the fifth set by a score of 15-12, cementing their first conference win of the year. Once again, Ratliff led the team in kills with 17. She now has 126 kills on the year, which is second only to Bair, who has 195 through 14 games. Additionally, Ratliff posted an attack percentage score of .536, which was by far the most efficient on the team. It is also worth noting that the Rebels cut down on errors in the second match and committed 22 as opposed to 30.
Finally getting a conference win is huge for the team’s momentum as the squad prepares for another weekend double-header on Oct. 7 and 8.. This time, the Rebels will play host to the Crimson Tide who currently stand at 6-10 and have failed to produce a conference win so far. If Ole Miss can capitalize on this weak opponent, it could be a turning point for the season and rejuvenate any tournament dreams that are left.
