The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
5-13, 1-9SEC
South Carolina
10-9, 1-8SEC
Rebels Drop Contest With South Carolina
10/16/2011 | Volleyball
Oct. 16, 2011
OXFORD, Miss. - Kara Morgan paced the Rebel offense with 15 kills, but it wasn't enough as Ole Miss (5-13, 1-9 SEC) was upended Sunday 3-1 (25-18, 17-25, 15-25, 22-25) by an upstart South Carolina squad.
The Rebels dominated in the first set, but South Carolina (10-9, 1-8 SEC) rallied down the stretch to pick up the come-from-behind win.
"We didn't pass well today," said Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin. "Any time Regina Thomas only has four kills, we haven't handled the first contact well at all. We have got to continue to work on that. There's no one left on our schedule we haven't been competitive with, but the only thing stopping us from being successful is ourselves. We have to search deeper within ourselves to find the answer."
Ole Miss came out on fire in the first set, paced by a flawless performance from the sophomore outside hitter as Morgan put down seven kills and hit .583 for the set without an attack error. The Rebels cruised to a 25-18 win in the first set in large part to the arm of the South Carolina native as Ole Miss hit .444 in the frame.
The Rebels couldn't get the ball to the hot-handed hitter consistently in the second frame as South Carolina turned the tables on Ole Miss. What was a tight match early turned the way of the Gamecocks after a Juliette Thevenin kill snapped an 11-11 tie and sparked a run for the visiting team. Ole Miss couldn't slow down the surging South Carolina squad as the Gamecocks claimed set two 25-17 to even the match behind a .607 hitting performance offensively.
Ole Miss grabbed the first point of the third set, but it would be the only lead the Rebels would see as South Carolina again took control of things early. An early deficit grew down the stretch as the Gamecocks moved in front 21-9 before grabbing the set 25-15.
The Rebels responded in the fourth set, taking the early lead on South Carolina. But for every run Ole Miss put together, South Carolina was able to string together an answering rally. The tide turned for good what proved to be the final frame as the Gamecocks got a kill from Thevenin to snap a 20-20 tie on the way to claiming the match 25-22.
Ole Miss will return to action next weekend, hitting the road to face LSU and Arkansas in a pair of matches as the Rebels begin the second half of Southeastern Conference play. The Rebels fell to LSU 3-2 in the first meeting in Oxford and defeated Arkansas 3-2 that same weekend to open league competition.
