Southern Miss
Mississippi
Volleyball Falls to Ole Miss in Five Set Thriller
9/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Sept. 10, 2010
OXFORD, Miss. - Sophomore Halie Ecker and junior Ashley Mell tallied 25 and 24 kills, respectively, but it wasn't enough as Southern Miss fell 3-2 to Ole Miss in the nightcap of the Magnolia Classic Friday.
USM falls to 5-4 with the 25-21, 23-25, 21-25, 25-22, 15-17 loss. Ole Miss improves to 4-3. It marks the third time this season that Southern Miss has played a five-set match and is 1-2 in them. Lauren Sears had 11 kills with two aces and two blocks. Setter Kelsea Seymour had 61 assists and libero Lisa Knecht had 23 digs.
In the first set, Southern Miss popped out to a 6-1 lead before Ole Miss stormed back to tie the score at 7-7. The teams battled back-and-forth as Ole Miss got back-to-back kills for a 16-14 lead. Following a USM timeout, the Eagles had a 6-2 run to go up 20-18. Southern Miss was able to maintain a two-point advantage as the Rebels called their final timeout trailing, 22-20, but USM held on for the 25-22 win. The Eagles hit just .214 led by Mell's eight kills.
In the second set, Ole Miss took a 9-3 lead early, but Southern Miss was able to chip away at the lead and managed to tie the set at 16-16. The Eagles only led once in the set, 1-0, to start the set. There were seven ties and only three lead changes. Ole Miss led all the way to 24-23 and then got to set point on a kill by Regina Thomas for the 25-23 win. Southern Miss hit .289 that set to Ole Miss' .229 as the teams went into the break with tied a set apiece.
Down 6-2 early in the third set, USM went on a 15-10 run to up 17-16. The Eagles could not keep their momentum going and dropped the third set, 25-21. Ole Miss outhit the Eagles .234 to .109 and used the block effectively, recording 6.0 team blocks.
Southern Miss popped out to an 11-3 lead in the fourth set but Ole Miss kept chipping away and when they got to within four at 11-7, the Eagles called timeout. Southern Miss put down three kills while Ole Miss committed an error to fall behind 15-10. The teams traded points until Mell tallied a kill and ace, forcing Ole Miss to burn its last timeout at 18-14. The Golden Eagles pushed their lead to 24-19, but Ole Miss got three straight kills to get within two, 24-22, and forced the Eagles to use their final timeout. Ecker ended the set with a kill for the 25-22 win and a fifth set.
In the deciding set, Southern Miss powered out to an 8-1 lead before Ole Miss was able to tie the score at 13. The two teams traded points with Mell scoring the 15th point for the Eagles before Ole Miss' Thomas recorded a kill to push the Rebels for match point and then an ace by Morgan Springer gave the deuce set to the Rebels.
Southern Miss concludes play against Samford at 11 a.m. Saturday.
