The University of Mississippi Athletics
Volleyball Downs Mississippi State 3-0 To Sweep Season Series
11/12/2003 | Volleyball
Nov. 12, 2003
Box Score
STARKVILLE, Miss. - The Ole Miss volleyball team downed arch-rival Mississippi State 3-0 Wednesday night to sweep the season series with Mississippi State and keep its hopes alive for an SEC tournament berth with one match remaining in the regular season.
With the win, the Lady Rebels (7-23, 5-10) won their fifth in a row over State (3-22, 2-13) and improved to 52-9 all-time against the Bulldogs. Head coach Joe Getzin moved to 4-0 against State in his second season. This also marks the second year in a row for the Lady Rebels to sweep the Bulldogs with a win in Starkville.
Junior outside hitter Elena Garcia posted 12 kills on 33 attempts with only one error and hit .333, while adding 17 digs for her 17th double-double of the season. She needs 12 kills to reach 900 for her career. Freshman outside hitter Jaclyn Toohey added 12 kills and hit .321. Freshman setter Jennifer McGowan recorded 37 assists to move into the top 10 single season list with 1,041 assists, becoming just the third Lady Rebel in history to make the top 10 as a freshman.
"Elena Garcia had a great night with another double-double," Getzin said. "Jaclyn Toohey also played well. This was a total team effort, though. It was great to see that kind of focus from everyone. This was our best performance this season. We are playing well at the end of the year. That's what we want to see. We need to take care of business Sunday against Tennessee and then we will see what happens with the SEC Tournament."
Game one was tied at 7 early, but then Mississippi State won five straight points to take a 12-7 lead, forcing Ole Miss to call timeout. The Bulldogs increased their lead to eight (19-11), but then the Lady Rebels won four consecutive points to get within four (19-15) as Mississippi used its first timeout. Following the timeout, Ole Miss went on a 7-3 run to tie the game at 22. The Lady Rebels would gain a 27-25 lead on a service ace by Megan McCune and a kill, but the Bulldogs answered to make it 27-27. The two teams traded points, but then a service error by MSU and an attack error gave the Lady Rebels the game, 30-28.
Ole Miss broke a 5-5 tie in game two with four straight points to go up 9-5. They increased their lead to six (12-6) forcing MSU to call a timeout. Mississippi State cut into the lead (16-13) as Lady Rebel head coach Joe Getzin called timeout. The Lady Rebels responded to the MSU run and built their advantage back out to seven (24-17) forcing Bulldog head coach Brenda Bowlin to use her final timeout of the game. Ole Miss went on a 6-3 run to gain game point at 29-20. The Bulldogs staved off four game points (29-24) until Rachel Refenes sent the ball down to give Ole Miss the game 30-24 and a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Lady Rebels came out in game three looking to put away the Bulldogs in three. They jumped out to an 8-3 lead as MSU called timeout. The Bulldogs used a 6-2 run to pull within one (10-9). The game stayed close until at 14-13, Ole Miss went on a 10-2 run of its own to extend the lead to 24-15. The Bulldogs never got any closer, as the Lady Rebels went on to win the game 30-18 and take the match.