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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
UALR - Magnolia Tournament
Volleyball Loses Heartbreaker To UALR In Magnolia Tournament Final
9/13/2003 | Volleyball
Sept. 13, 2003
Box Score
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss volleyball team lost a heartbreaker 3-2 (30-19, 20-30, 30-28, 25-30, 13-15) to Arkansas-Little Rock in the final match of the Magnolia Tournament Saturday afternoon. Sophomore middle blocker Rachel Refenes was named to the All-Tournament Team for her efforts in the tournament.
"It's disappointing to lose the tournament," head coach Joe Getzin said. "We put ourselves in a position to win matches, but we just came up a little short. Some of that is due to inexperience with the players that we have on the floor."
The Lady Rebels (1-9) were playing without junior captain Elena Garcia, who missed the final match of the tournament due to an injury she suffered in the Lady Rebels' match against Portland Friday night.
"Elena will be out for 10 days to two weeks with a sprained rotator cuff," Getzin said. "Hopefully she will be ready for the SEC opener against Mississippi State."
Despite not having their top player, the Lady Rebels played a great first game in winning 30-19. The two teams battled back and forth until Ole Miss went ahead 13-10. Arkansas-Little Rock (7-3) called timeout, but things only got worse for the Trojans, as the Lady Rebels extended their lead to 23-12. UALR never got any closer than 10 the rest of the way.
In a reversal of game one, UALR jumped out to a 10-1 lead on Ole Miss. The Lady Rebels couldn't get any closer than 20-15 as the Trojans evened the match with a 30-20 score.
In perhaps the most thrilling game of the match, the two teams went back and forth early in game three before Arkansas-Little Rock took a three-point lead (18-15). Ole Miss used its first timeout, but couldn't get over the hump and watched as UALR went up by five (26-21) before calling their final timeout. Following the timeout, the Lady Rebels pulled to within 27-26. The Trojans won the next point to go back up by two (28-26), but Ole Miss would win four straight points to take the game and a 2-1 lead.
Game four started out like game three and was tied at 20, before UALR won three of the next four points to build a 24-21 advantage. Ole Miss called timeout and made it 25-23, but that was as close as they got, falling 30-25 to force a deciding game.
With game five playing only to 15 points it's important to get off to a good start, which is not what the Lady Rebels did, digging themselves an 0-6 hole. The team responded by winning eight of the next nine points to take an 8-7 lead. UALR called timeout and answered with a 4-0 run to go ahead 11-8. After an Ole Miss timeout, the Lady Rebels won the next two points to keep their chances for their second win alive. The teams traded points, but at 13-14, UALR won the point to steal the match 3-2 and win the tournament with a 3-0 record.
With Garcia out, someone had to step up. Freshman Jaclyn Toohey turned in a career-high 23 kills on 48 attempts for a .312 clip. Jillian Ohrman, one of six freshman on the squad, posted 12 kills and five blocks and hit .417 for the match. Kristen Carroll, another freshman, added 12 kills and four blocks. Junior Megan McCune finished with a double-double of 11 kills and 12 digs.
Refenes earned her second All-Tournament nod in a row, after making the UIC Inviational All-Tournament team in Chicago last weekend. She finished the UALR match with seven kills and nine blocks. For the weekend, Refenes totaled 27 kills and 11 blocks.
Arkansas-Little Rock was led by tournament MVP Ivana Vracar, who tallied 33 kills, nine digs and three blocks in the final match alone. For the weekend, she totaled 66 kills and 20 digs. Ivana Kuzmic, who made the All-Tournament team, finished the match with 11 kills and eight blocks.
The Lady Rebels won their first match of the season with Friday's 3-0 win over Alcorn State. They dropped a close 3-0 match to Portland Friday night, losing by only two points in the first game and three in game three.
Ole Miss returns to action Tuesday night against Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg. First serve is slated for 7 p.m.
ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
MVP, Ivana Vracar - UALR
Maialla Hurga - UALR
Ivana Kuzmic - UALR
Monique Kettler - Portland
Sheena Surplus - Portland
Rachel Refenes - Ole Miss
Brittney Ward - Alcorn State
