The Ole Miss volleyball team took home the championship at the Magnolia Invitational for the eighth time in nine years after defeating Oral Roberts, Northwestern State and Tennessee State this weekend in Oxford. Getting three wins under their belt was the best way the Rebels could start the 2015 season.
“It was a total team effort,” head coach Steven McRoberts said. “A lot of players got playing time. We played around with a couple of different things and fought through some adversities to play really well at the end of the sets. There were some pressure points in every match that I felt like we handled well.”
The Rebels crushed Oral Roberts in Friday night’s opening match. Senior middle blocker Nakeyta Clair, sophomore transfer Kate Gibson and junior setter Aubrey Edie led the Rebels to victory.
Clair finished the evening with 12 kills. Gibson contributed eight kills, two assists, two service aces and 10 digs. Edie helped keep the offense flowing with 39 assists and finished the weekend with 125 assists total to allow the Rebels to hit .328 for the weekend.
Aubrey Edie and freshman outside hitter Kathryn Cather were named to the All-Tournament Team and Clair was named Most Valuable Player of the weekend. Clair finished the weekend with a total of 38 kills and eight blocks.
“We got all our jitters out and we can be more confident now in our team,” Clair said. “I’m just happy that we won the whole thing.”
Other standouts of the weekend were Cather and sophomore hitter Lexi Thompson. Cather made her freshman debut as she tallied 26 kills and added nine service aces. Thompson finished the tournament with 26 kills, eight service aces and 29 digs.
“We all played really well together and [my teammates] were all really encouraging being my first time playing in a big SEC game,” Cather said. “I owe it all to my teammates.”
After sweeping the matches this weekend, Ole Miss improved to 3-0 and have now won 17 straight non-conference matches dating back to the 2014 season.
The victory over Northwestern State helped coach McRoberts win his 499th game. He will go for number 500 on Tuesday against McNeese State.
The first serve is set for 11 a.m., followed by a match with UT-Martin later that evening at 7 p.m.
