Nakeyta Clair follows through after hitting the ball. (File Photo Cameron Brooks)
The Ole Miss Volleyball team will host their first tournament of the season this weekend in The Pavilion after coming off a road tournament win in North Dakota.
The success in the North Dakota Classic gave the Rebels their ninth straight regular season tournament win under Head Coach Steven McRoberts. The Rebels managed to work together to first pull out a win over North Dakota and the opposing crowd in match one.
“It was one of those matches that went back and forth, and if you add up all five sets, we won by one point,” McRoberts said.
Although it was a hard fought victory, the Rebels set a single match record of 80 kills against UND. Kate Gibson, a junior outside hitter from Memphis, set a single match record with a career best 27 kills in the match.
Within an hour, the Rebels were back on the court warming up for another match, but a quick turn-around did not affect Ole Miss. This time, the match would only take four sets to win with the Rebels coming out on top. The Rebels quickly built a large lead against Omaha, taking set one 25-19. The Mavericks managed to take set two by three points, but Ole Miss came back and claimed set three and four to win the match.
“It was a total team effort this past weekend,” McRoberts said. “We had three players named to the all-tournament team, but another three or four that could have been.”
Emily Stroup, a freshman from Fargo, North Dakota, made her debut for the Rebels in set four against UND. She then was able to get three
kills in two sets against Omaha. Freshman Nicole Purcell, a defensive specialist from Leawood, Kansas, finished with 19 digs against Omaha and a career-high 26 digs against North Dakota.
“It’s going to have to be a team effort this year for us to win,” McRoberts said. “Our schedule in the preseason is much tougher than it’s been in the past.”
The Rebel Classic begins Friday, and will conclude on Saturday with Ole Miss facing UT-Arlington in their first match of the tournament on Friday at 6 p.m.
The Rebels will then battle McNeese State at 1 p.m. on Saturday, and will finish off their first home tournament by playing North Carolina State at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday.
“Hopefully we can get a good crowd to The Pavilion this week and keep this win streak going,” McRoberts said.
