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Volleyball Wins Rebel Classic
It wasn’t always pretty,
but the Ole Miss Volleyball team picked up two more wins Saturday to
capture the Rebel Classic and improve to 14-0, as they get for the
start of SEC play next weekend. After four weeks of the season, the
Rebels have equaled their win total from 2013.
The Rebels downed Lamar 3-0 earlier in the day, and then defeated Jackson State 3-1 in the final match of the day.
Sophomore
setter Aubrey Edie was named the Rebel Classic Most Valuable
Player and joined on the All-Tournament Team by junior middle
blockers Ty Laporte and Nakeyta Clair. Edie tallied 127
assists, 9.77 per set on the weekend, to earn her fourth consecutive
all-tournament honor. The Fayetteville, Arkansas, native also posted 12
total blocks.
Laporte finished with 34 kills and hit .500,
while adding 13 total blocks to earn her third straight all-tournament
honor. Clair posted 30 kills for a .533 attack percentage and added a
team-leading 20 total blocks, including 7 solo.
“Nakeyta and Ty
had a tremendous weekend,” head coach Steven McRoberts said.
“Both hit over .500 for four matches. Aubrey did a great job setting
the entire tournament, and our team hit .356 for the weekend.”
The
Rebels got off to a pretty good start against Jackson State, taking the
first set 25-12, but the Tigers handed Ole Miss its first set loss of
the tournament, winning the second 25-23. After intermission, the
Rebels came out much better and closed out Jackson State 25-13 and 25-5
in the third and fourth sets.
“In between two and three, I told
the team I thought it was good for us, because it just shows that
anybody can in the country beat us if we don’t keep our
focus,”McRoberts said. “We had some major breakdowns in our serve and
pass game in the second set. Our passing made us one
dimensional. In turn, they became more confident and put more
pressure on us. The first, third and fourth sets, they made
a lot of errors, and in the second set they didn’t.
“We challenged the team between two and three, and you can see by the scores, that they responded.”
Laporte
tallied 13 kills and four blocks, while hitting .455 to lead the
Rebels. Melanie Crow added 10 kills and three service
aces and hit .409. Up front, Clair had six blocks and seven kills to go
along with her .500 hitting percentage.
In the earlier match of
the day, the Rebels downed Lamar 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-17) behind the
play of Clair and Laporte. Clair finished with 9 kills and hit
.500, while Laporte added 9 kills and hit .583.
After a perfect
non-conference, the Rebels now turn their attention to SEC play, as
they open up on the road next weekend at South Carolina and
nationally-ranked Florida.
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