Junior Lexi Thompson led the Rebels to a three set victory with 25 kills and 22 digs against McNeese State University today at 1 p.m. at The Pavilion.
The match ultimately came down to maximizing errors. The Cowgirls struggled and the Rebels had no problem capitalizing and claiming a steady victory.
“I was really proud of our team,”Ole Miss Volleyball Head Coach, Steven McRoberts, said.”We didn’t really have a whole lot of weaknesses.We, overall, played really steady, and I think that was our strength overall.”
The first set started off with Senior setter Aubrey Edie’s jump float serve that was unable to earn the rebels the first point. McNeese stole the first point with a kill, to start their momentum. With back to back errors from the Rebels, McNeese State was able to pull ahead. However, Junior Middle Blocker and Taylor Alexander stopped the hitting errors and slammed the ball down for a kill. Both teams picked up speed and eventually held a tied score. Audrey Edie scored an ace for the rebels and went on a streak. Ole Miss continued battling to take the first game.
McNeese earned the first point of the second set with a net error by Alexander. However in the next point, Alexander made it up by slamming an overpass to get the kill and point for the Rebels. The game continued to be a close match up until freshman Middle Blocker and Nayo Warnell got the kill and Thompson proceeded to serve. The Rebels held on to their lead, only allowing the Cowgirls to earn a couple points. Ole Miss finished the game with sophomore defensive specialist, Taylor Gill, serving a jump float that caused McNeese to send over a free ball. Sophomore right side hitter, Kathryn Cather, was able to find the hole in the court, scoring the winning point with a tip.
The Rebels battled out the first point in the third game, and sophomore, Kate Gibson, ended it with a strong block for Ole Miss. With a couple ball handling errors made by the Cowgirl’s setter, Alexandra Aguilera, McNeese started to lose momentum, causing the Cowgirls to call a timeout. After the timeout, Gibson slammed the ball down for a kill, which started a run for Ole Miss. Again, the Rebels refused to let the Cowgirls pull ahead. Thompson served the set point for the rebels; sophomore Middle Blocker, Audrey Fischer, smashed the ball for the match winning kill for Ole Miss.
The Ole Miss Rebels will continue in the Ole Miss Invitational tonight at 7:30 p.m. at The Pavilion when they face The North Carolina State Wolfpack. The North Carolina State Wolfpack beat McNeese State, similar to the Rebels. The game tonight will determine the champion, and the Ole Miss head coach hopes to eliminate even more errors.
“I think they will be the toughest team that we play here this weekend. Every match we kind of take in the motto just to keep trying and improve each match,” said McRoberts.
