The University of Mississippi Athletics
Volleyball Defeats Mississippi State 3-2 In Season Finale
11/14/1999 | Volleyball
Nov. 14, 1999
OXFORD, Miss.--The Ole Miss Lady Rebel volleyball team saved the best for last in the 1999 season. After going 0-14 in Southeastern Conference matches, including 0-2 in five game conference matches, the Lady Rebels dug deep to come away with a gritty 3-2 win over in-state SEC rival Mississippi State on Sunday afternoon.
After being shutout by the Lady Bulldogs (11-16, 2-13 SEC) on the road Friday night, Ole Miss (10-19, 1-14 SEC) got career outings from four Lady Rebels to help propel them to their first conference win in over a year.
"It's a great win for the team," said Ole Miss head coach John Blair. "I thought that when Mississippi State pushed today, we bent but never broke. We fought our way back in from being behind big a couple of times. Today we played well enough to win and that's what you have to do sometimes."
Sunday was also senior day for the Lady Rebels, honoring four players who saw action in their last match at Ole Miss. Lauren Dorcheus, Lisa Frannino, Korrie Kashuba and Rebecca Rider were all honored before the match and started game one for the Lady Rebels.
"The seniors stayed fired up and into the match and that was a big turning point," said Blair. "Lauren, Lisa, Korrie and Rebecca came in and played very well for us. They were always talking to everybody and kept everybody in the match. Sometimes, just the little things like that make the difference."
Ole Miss came out hot in the first game. Mississippi State won the opening point, but the Lady Rebels fired back to take a 4-1 lead. After letting the Lady Bulldogs tie the match at four and then again at five, Ole Miss took the lead and never let go. With Mississippi State within one at 9-8, Ole Miss spouted off four points to take the 12-8 advantage. The two teams would then swap 13 sideouts before Mississippi State scored its last point of the game. Ole Miss closed it out 15-9, scoring three in a row.
Game two played out much like game one, only Mississippi State was victorious.After fighting off four game points, Ole Miss lost game two 15-8.
Mississippi State stormed out to a commanding 8-1 lead in game three, capitalizing on five attacking errors by the Lady Rebels. Ole Miss would not go quietly however and mounted a comeback, inching away at the Lady Bulldog lead until they tied the match at 11. Mississippi State threatened to take the 2-games-to-1 lead when they scored three unanswered and sent it to game point. Ole Miss then went on a five point run, aided by a pair of service aces by Erin Newsom, shutting down Mississippi State and taking game three 16-14.
After the exciting finish to game three, Ole Miss let their guard down in game four and let the Lady Bulldogs use seven attacking errors to take game easily, 15-6.
In the marathon match that lasted over two hours, Ole Miss would not concede its final match of the season. Sophomore Jaime Burns had one of her best games of the year, with six of her 21 kills in rally scoring in game five, including the final two points of the game, to lead the Lady Rebels to 15-13 victory. After two seasons of play, Burns is just eight kills shy of the 500 career kill mark, with two seasons to play.
"Today was maybe Jaime Burns' best all around match," Blair said. "We saw a lot out of Jaime early in the season and during the spring, but we haven't seen it in a while. All of a sudden today, to her credit, she was bound and determined to play the way she is capable of playing. This was a great way for her to end the season. She's got a long career left and is going to be one of the players that can make a difference down the road."
Newsom, a freshman middle blocker, had the first double-digit kill outing of her career. She also added a team and career high six blocks in the match. In addition, Newsom picked up three aces, the first of her career.
"Erin's been working really hard, but as a freshman it sometimes takes a little while to understand the effort level that you have to put forth to be successful in the jump from high school," said Blair. "We've been seeing the effort and it's been getting there. She had a great week of practice and I really felt that she was ready to step forward and play. Her numbers today were way above where she had been performing and that's what we recruited her for, because she's capable of doing that."
As fitting farewell, Dorcheus ended her playing career at Ole Miss with her highest kill mark ever. Tying with Burns, they led the match with 21 kills, surpassing the 19 Dorcheus had against Eastern Illinois earlier this season. She finishes her career ranked fourth in all-time attacking percentage in Ole Miss history. With the five block assists she added on Sunday, she ended her career fifth in the school history and just one shy of fourth place.
Mississippi State 9 15 14 15 13Ole Miss 15 8 16 6 15
Mississippi State (11-16, 2-13 SEC), Ole Miss (10-19, 1-14 SEC)
