The Ole Miss volleyball team kicked off the Southeastern Conference by battling the No. 6 SEC Team, the Florida Gators, in four sets, only being able to take one set from the Gators (26-24,12-25,15-25,16-25).
Sophomore Kathryn Cather shined on backside against Florida Gators earning 16 kills Friday at The Pavilion. She gave most of the credit to their practice and blockers, who she said allowed her to score as many kills as she could.
“Well we were working on a lot of stuff at practice, and I think it really came out,” Cather said. “And our middles pulled blocks really well for me, so that was usually one-on-one, or there was a huge hole. It made it a lot easier.”
Junior Kate Gibson initiated the first game with her topspin jump serve, but the Rebels lost their first point due to a failed duel at the net. The first game got off to a slow start with no teams at a significant lead. The momentum began to pick up when Cather got the kill for the Rebs (10-8) and proceeded to the end line to serve a wicked ace (11-8). The Rebels continued to hold this minor lead, until the Gators’ outside hitter, Shainah Joseph, scored a kill that tied the score (20-20). Ole Miss immediately signaled for a timeout. Both the teams regrouped after the timeout, causing neither team to break ahead of the other. Finally, Cather scored a cross-court kill that caused the Gators to call a timeout (25-24). Due to a hitting error made on the Gators, the Rebels clinched the first set (26-24).
Similar to the first game, the beginning of the second game was very close. Then, Florida gained momentum with middle blocker Rachael Kramer and her back-to-back kills (16-9) and brick wall block against Cather that caused Ole Miss to call a timeout (17-9). After the timeout, Gators got the serve and were able to stay ahead until the end (25-12).
Both teams struggled to take the lead against each other in the fourth set until Florida was able to get a kill causing Ole Miss to call a timeout (13-8). The Gators were able to keep this lead and blossom it into a 10-point lead after outsider hitter Carli Snyder earned the kill for Florida (23-13). Cather attempted to carry her team and gain some momentum after earning a kill for Ole Miss (15-24). However, Gators emerged victorious after a failed block off the Rebels (15-25).
Ole Miss started off the fourth set in a rut with three consecutive errors (0-3). Eventually, the Rebels caught up and remained even with the Gators (10-10) until two hit errors were made on Ole Miss (10-12). These errors caused the Rebels to lose momentum until the very end. Florida’s Snyder sealed the deal with her winning kill on a line shot and ended the match (16-25).
The Rebels may have lost Friday’s match against the Gators, but Head Coach Steven McRoberts turned his focus to the positives with upcoming matches in mind.
“There was a lot of good that can come from tonight,” McRoberts said. “Hopefully instead of being hung up on us losing, we can gain some confidence from the things that we actually did do well and do those more.”
Ole Miss traveled to Columbia to take on the Missouri Tigers on Sunday and fell three sets to none, capping off a tough 0-2 weekend.
