The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Alabama
Ole Miss Falls To Surging Crimson Tide Team 3-0
10/24/2004 | Volleyball
Oct. 24, 2004
Box Score
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss (10-12, 2-8 SEC) struggled early and never found a rhythm, committing errors in crucial situations that allowed Alabama (16-5, 6-4 SEC) needed to defeat the Lady Rebels 3-0 (21-30, 12-30, 27-30) on Sunday.
Nikki Hill was the only Ole Miss player to reach double digits in kills with 11, while Kristen Carroll led the Lady Rebels in digs with nine. Hill hit .400 for the match.
Erin Heffner led the Crimson Tide with 15 kills, while Kelley Potter notched 10 kills.
Alabama drew first blood, scoring on a kill that fell at the feet of the Lady Rebel defender, but the Lady Rebels struck back with a kill that bounced off the hands of the Crimson Tide blockers and took the lead on an attack error by Alabama. The two squads traded scores from there, before Alabama took a four-point lead on back-to-back attack errors by the Lady Rebels and a service ace. The Crimson Tide held the advantage, as each side fought to make a move, but Alabama again answered first, pulling ahead 15-9 and pushing Ole Miss into a timeout.
The Lady Rebels cut into the lead out of the break, but the Crimson Tide responded again and extended the lead back to 19-13. Ole Miss cut it again, trimming the lead to 22-19, but again the Crimson Tide answered the run and forced Ole Miss into a timeout down 25-20.
The Lady Rebels could not answer the Alabama assault from there, falling 30-21 in game one.
The Crimson Tide again snagged the first point of the second game, but Ole Miss again answered with a kill that ricocheted off the hands of Alabama's blockers. The squads traded scores before the Tide pulled ahead 8-5. Alabama continued to pull ahead of the Lady Rebels and forced the home team into a timeout down 14-8. Ole Miss couldn't find an answer for the Alabama attack, calling another timeout after a four-point run put the Lady Rebels down 18-8.
Ole Miss mounted a rally, finding a fire after Getzin received a red card from the officials, but the Tide answered again to take the second game 30-12.
The Lady Rebels came out swinging to open the third game, taking a 3-1 lead on Alabama, but the Tide tied things at three with a quick response and took the lead 4-3 as Ole Miss' miscues continued. The lead came back to the home team, as back-to-back attack errors from Alabama gave Ole Miss two points. The squads resumed the point trading from there.
Ole Miss opened up a two-point lead 12-10, and held the two-point advantage briefly, but Alabama took the lead back and pushed ahead by two at 15-13 with a quick run. The Lady Rebels called timeout down 17-14.
Ole Miss tied things up at 19 with a run out of the break, and took the lead 23-21 with another run to push Alabama into its first timeout. The Crimson Tide answered out of the break to tie the game at 23, and pushed ahead 26-24 to push Ole Miss into a timeout. The Lady Rebels tied the game at 27 out of the break, but Alabama scored three-straight points to take the match with a 30-27 win in game three.
The Lady Rebels will return to the court against eighth-ranked Florida on Friday at 7 p.m., before facing off against Georgia on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. to close out a five-match homestand.
