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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Pick Up Pair Of Wins To Open Season
8/29/2008 | Volleyball
MILWAUKEE, Wisc. The Ole Miss volleyball team notched its second win of the season on Friday as the Rebels (2-0) defeated Illinois State (0-2) by a score of 3-0 (25-11, 25-16, 25-21) at the Panther Invitational.
It was the second win of the day for the Rebels who defeated host Wisconsin-Milwaukee by a score of 3-2 earlier in the day in dramatic fashion.
"It's good to see a young player play with confidence, but the big story was our passing," said Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin. "It was much more consistent and opened up the offense for us. Alli Weber and our defensive specialists were key and having three players in double digits is impressive.
"This early in the year it's about what we're doing on our side of the net. Iowa State, who we will face tomorrow, certainly deserves their ranking of 18th in the nation. If we continue to get better on our side of the net, the score tends to take care of itself."
Freshman outside hitter Katie Norris led the Rebels with 13 kills in the match, while defensive specialist Allison Weber paced the back row with 12 digs on the night. Three Rebels notched double digit digs as Emily Kvitle came up with 11 digs and Caitlin Weiss added 10 digs.
Ole Miss cruised through the first two games, hitting .371 as a team through the first two sets before holding off a feisty Redbird team in the third set to claim the win.
The Rebels will close out the tournament against No. 18 Iowa State at noon on Saturday.
GAME ONE: Ole Miss 3, Wisconsin-Milwaukee 2
MILWAUKEE, Wisc. Ole Miss (1-0) got some of its growing pains out of the way early on Friday as a mix of youth and experience saw the Rebels weather an up-and-down match on the way to a 3-2 2 (25-17, 25-21, 19-25, 6-25, 16-14) win over Wisconsin-Milwaukee (0-1) at the Panther Invitational.
Freshman outside hitter Katie Norris led the way for the Rebels, notching 19 kills to go along with 11 kills from junior right side Caitlin Weiss. Weiss recorded her first double-double of the season with 12 digs in the match.
Sophomore setter Emily Kvitle paced the defense with 19 digs as one of three Rebels with double-digit digs. Senior libero Allison Weber tallied 16 digs to go along with the 12 digs from Weiss.
"We looked really good early and then we let Wisconsin-Milwaukee gain some confidence, but a win is a win," said Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin. "It was a good start for a young player like Katie Norris to have that kind of confidence in her first start. That will go a long way in her career. Weiss is on track where she left off last season as someone who makes plays. We obviously need her to make things happen for us."
Becky Peters led the Panthers with 21 kills on the afternoon.
The Rebels jumped out to an early lead in game one, grabbing control of the match from the start and never letting go on the way to a 25-17 win. Emily Jones and Caitlin Keefe paced the Rebels in the first frame as both players came up with three kills on four swings with no errors. Katie Norris and junior Caitlin Weiss also both notched three kills in game one without recording an attack error. Ole Miss did not commit a single attack error as a team in the first game.
Game two saw the Panthers jump out to the early lead, but the Rebels fought back before pulling away late tow in the second frame 25-21. UW-Milwaukee scored three quick points to take the lead before the Rebels fought back in a nip/tuck battle. With the game tied at 21, Weiss and Norris came up with back-to-back kills to push Ole Miss in front on the way to the win.
The Rebels fell in game three following a back-and-forth battle that saw Ole Miss take the early lead only to fall at the end 25-19 as the Panthers forced a fourth game and avoided the sweep.
Game four saw the Rebels off to a rocky start as the Panthers stormed ahead 12-1. It never got any better for Ole Miss as the Rebels managed only six points in the frame and UW-Milwaukee just forced a fifth game with the 25-6 win in game four.
The Rebels got off to a quick start in game five, only to see the gap close as UW-Milwaukee tied things at 14 each. Ole Miss then saw its mix of youth and experience pay off as back-to-back kills from Norris and Weiss pushed the Rebels to the win 16-14.
