OXFORD, Miss. – A great crowd of 874, a nationally-televised audience, an undefeated record at home and riding a three-match win streak, everything was set up for the Ole Miss Volleyball team against LSU. The Tigers had other plans, handing the Rebels their first home loss, 3-0, here at the Gillom Sports Center Wednesday night.
Sophomore Melanie Crow recorded 13 kills and freshman Lexi Thompson notched 10, but the Rebels were unable to set up junior middle blocker Nakeyta Clair as often as they would have preferred. She finished with just eight kills on a .235 clip, well below her average of .427.
As a team, the Rebels hit just .198, falling to 0-4 in the SEC when hitting below .200.
“Sometimes our first ball contact hurt us with being able to stay aggressive offensively,” head coach Steven McRoberts said. “Early on we weren’t able to get Nakeyta involved as much as we would have liked. We have to give credit to LSU, they played really well, and we didn’t do a good job of matching their intensity.”
LSU came out firing in the first set, but the Rebels hung around to take a 15-13 lead into the media timeout. Ole Miss built a 20-16 lead and eventually had two set points both from big kills by Crow. LSU answered each time and went on to win the set 28-26 to take the early momentum.
Ole Miss led 8-6 early in the second set, but LSU went on an 11-4 to run to gain a 17-12 advantage. The Tigers never looked back winning it 25-18 for the 2-0 lead in the match.
The Rebels fell behind 5-1 to start the third set and Coach McRoberts called his first timeout. Ole Miss hung around and pulled to within two points, 22-20, before the Tigers won the final three for 25-20 and the match.
The Rebels travel to Knoxville, Tennessee, Sunday to face Tennessee at 12:30 p.m. CT. The Lady Vols are 2-8 overall and 0-8 in the SEC.
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LSU (11-7, 6-3) 28 25 25
Ole Miss (18-4, 4-4) 26 18 20