.png&width=48&height=48&type=webp)
The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
5-9, 1-5SEC
.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Mississippi State
8-7, 3-3SEC
Morgan Tallies Career-High 15 Kills Against Mississippi State
10/2/2011 | Volleyball
Oct. 2, 2011
OXFORD, Miss. - Sophomore outside hitter Kara Morgan notched a career-high 15 kills and hit .325 for the match, but the Rebels couldn't come up with enough at the end as Ole Miss (5-9, 1-5 SEC) fell to Mississippi State (8-7, 3-3 SEC) by a score of 3-2 (25-15, 22-25, 15-25, 25-9, 12-15) on Sunday.
Senior middle blocker Regina Thomas continued to play well for the Rebels, hitting .348 for the match and putting down 10 kills to go along with five blocks, while junior middle blocker Courtney Cunningham added seven kills and eight blocks on the afternoon.
Despite out-performing the Bulldogs in every statistical category on the afternoon, the Rebels couldn't get the timely play to help the match fall the way of the home team.
"We just didn't make the right play at the right time today," said Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin. "Our hats are off to Mississippi State. They made those plays in the fifth set. The stats show we did everything better on the afternoon, but a box score doesn't win the match. You have to make plays down the stretch and we didn't."
Ole Miss out-blocked Mississippi State 15.0 to 9.0 and also tallied more kills, more digs and a better hitting percentage.
The first set was controlled from the beginning by the Rebels as Ole Miss raced out to 10-5 lead on the Bulldogs and never looked back. Mississippi State would call timeout down five and then again when the Rebels pushed the lead out to nine at 17-8, but the Rebels never let the Bulldogs back in the set on the way to a 25-15 win in the opening frame.
Set two saw Mississippi State grab the early lead, only for the Rebels to surge back and tie things eight before taking a short-lived lead of their own. An Ole Miss attack error broke a 12-12 tie to put the Bulldogs on top in the set, and the Rebels could never regain the lead again. Mississippi State took the second set 25-22 to even the match heading into the break.
The third set was controlled by the Bulldogs early as Mississippi State took a 6-1 lead on the home-standing Rebels, forcing Ole Miss to call an early timeout. Despite the break in the action, the lead grew to 11-4 for the visitors from Starkville, and the Rebels again burned a timeout to try to halt the Bulldog run.
Ole Miss couldn't slow down the Mississippi State offense in the third frame, falling 25-15 to give the visiting team the edge in the match.
The Rebels responded in the fourth set, using a relentless attack to even the contest at a set each. Ole Miss hit .500 in the frame and stepped up the presence at the net to hold Mississippi State to a negative hitting percentage on the way to a 25-9 win and force decisive fifth set.
Ole Miss committed only one attack error in the set, while putting down 13 kills and tallying 7.0 blocks to claim the set in dominant fashion.
The momentum didn't carry into the final frame, however, as Mississippi State grabbed a 6-3 lead out of the gates and sent Ole Miss to the bench in a timeout. The Rebels cut into the lead twice, trimming the advantage to two at 8-6 and one at 12-11 to force Mississippi State to call timeout and regroup. Despite the two rallies, Ole Miss couldn't eclipse the Bulldogs on the scoreboard as Mississippi State went on to win the set with a 15-12 victory in the fifth frame.
Ole Miss will return to the road in Southeastern Conference play next weekend, traveling to face Kentucky and Tennessee in a pair of weekend matches. It will close out a stretch of five-of-six matches on the road for the Rebels.
Friday night's contest is set for 6 p.m. CT at Kentucky, with Sunday's match set for a 12:30 CT start against Tennessee.
