The Ole Miss Volleyball team hosted the Arkansas State Red Wolves on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. in The Pavilion in a non conference matchup. The Ole Miss Rebels came into the contest with a perfect (6-0) record, while the Red Wolves came in at 4-2.
Heading into the contest, the Rebels’ leader in kills was junior outside hitter Kate Gibson with 94 kills on the young season. Junior middle blocker Taylor Alexander holds the team’s lead for the Rebels with 22 blocks.
The first set was a back and forth battle with the Red Wolves getting to 20 first, holding onto a 20-19 lead, but the Rebels fought back to end the first set on a 5-2 run, winning the first set 25-22. Sophomore Kathryn Cather from Hoover, Alabama, led the Rebels with six kills in the first set.
The Rebels carried their momentum from the first set over into the second set, getting out to an early (12-8) lead over the Red Wolves. The Rebels extended their lead to five, going into the timeout with a (15-10) lead. The Rebels were first to 20 in the second set, holding a (20-11) lead. The Rebels held on to win set two by a score of (25-18). Heading into intermission, Ole Miss held a two sets to none lead over Arkansas State, looking to extend their winning streak to 7 to start the season.
The Red Wolves got out to a red hot start in set three, building up a (11-6) lead over the Rebels. The Red Wolves extended their lead to 7, with a (21-14) win over the Rebels in a must win set. The Rebels tried to pull off a comeback in the third set, but the lead was just too much to overcome, Arkansas State won the third set (25-20). Heading into the fourth set, Lexi Thompson and Kate Gibson led Ole Miss with 14 and 13 kills respectively.
Ole Miss started the fourth set on a dominant (12-4) run, looking to put away the Red Wolves. The Rebels continued playing dominant pushing their lead to 11 over the Red Wolves (18-7). Ole Miss won the fourth set (25-16) giving the Rebels a three sets to one win over the Arkansas State Red Wolves. With the win, Ole Miss moved to 7-0 on the season.
“I thought at times we played about as well as we can, that’s a very good team and to beat them the way we did tonight says a lot about our performance,” Head Coach Steven McRoberts said.
In other news, Aubrey Edie was named the SEC setter of the week on Tuesday morning for her outstanding play last week in the Rebel Classic. Edie, a senior from Fayetteville, Arkansas, is possibly the best setter in Ole Miss Volleyball history. During the final game of the Rebel Classic on Saturday night, Edie passed Rachel Kieckhaefer for the all time career lead in assists for Ole Miss Volleyball. Edie now holds the single match, single season and career records in assists.
The Rebels travel to Nashville, Tennessee, this weekend to compete against three non-conference teams in the Lipscomb Tournament. Ole Miss will play Lipscomb and Virginia Tech on Friday and Northwestern on Saturday.
“This weekend will be tough. We will be the underdog in all three matches, but from an RPI standpoint we were an underdog tonight,” McRoberts said. “Every one of these wins we can get helps strengthen our NCAA tournament resume.”
