OXFORD, Miss. It was a tough night for the Rebels on Wednesday as Ole Miss (12-9, 4-7 SEC) fell to arch-rival Mississippi State (13-8, 4-7 SEC) by a score of 3-1 (31-29, 15-30, 27-30, 17-30) as the Bulldogs completed the season sweep of the Rebels.
Jaclyn Toohey posted 12 kills to lead Ole Miss while Katie Kramer added 11 kills on the night. Tara Langley came up with 14 digs to lead the Rebel defensive effort. Mississippi State proved to be more efficient on the attack as the Bulldogs hit .369 for the night to the Rebels .096 performance.
Four Bulldogs reached double digits in kills as Martina Gregusova paced Mississippi State with 19. Orshi Kriegel added 16 kills while Jamie Joyner put down 13 kills and Eva Kriegel notched 10 kills.
"Mississippi State did a nice job tonight and they are a much better team than their record indicates,” said Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin. “They play with a lot of confidence and when they rallied, we needed our senior leadership to come through at that point and it didn’t.
“It’s mental with us right now,” Getzin said. “Our team lacks confidence. We have the talent; we just don’t have the confidence to come out of things when they don’t go well out of the gate. We have got to find the confidence that we can turn it around.”
The Rebels and Bulldogs battled tough in the first game as Ole Miss matched Mississippi State point for point. Christine Marchinski proved to be the difference down the stretch. With the match tied at 29, Marchinksi’s serving helped propel the Rebels to a 31-29 win in game one.
The second game was all Bulldogs as Mississippi State stormed out of the gates and Ole Miss was never able to catch up. The Rebels tallied only four kills in game two as the Bulldogs took the second game 30-15.
Game three resembled the first with the Rebels fighting hard with the Bulldogs and matching Mississippi State for points. Ole Miss proved to be unable to make up enough ground to overtake the early lead, however, as the Bulldogs claimed the third game 30-27.
Game four fell in favor of the Bulldogs again, as Mississippi State closed out the match with a 30-17 performance in the fourth period to claim the match.
The Rebels return to action on Friday when Ole Miss will play host to Alabama. The match will begin at 7 p.m. at the Gillom Sports Center on campus.
