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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
2-0
Siena
1-1
Volleyball Goes 2-0 to Start Season
8/29/2014 | Volleyball
Siena Box Score | Canisius Box Score | Photo Gallery
BUFFALO, N.Y. - A day after enjoying Niagara Falls, the Ole Miss Volleyball team took to the courts for the season opener and defeated Canisius and Siena by scores of 3-0 at the Buffalo Classic, to open the Steven McRoberts era.
The Rebels (2-0) will face Lehigh University Saturday at 4 p.m. CT in their third game of the tournament.
Experience in the middle is the name of the game for the Rebels in 2014, and junior middle blocker Nakeyta Clair paced the team with 9 kills and 4 block assists against Canisius in the morning and then came back with 14 kills and 5 blocks in the afternoon versus Siena. She hit .667 against Siena.
Clair wasn't alone in the stats. Sophomore Melanie Crow posted 21 kills and 7 block assists on the day as well as 6 service aces. Freshman Lexi Thompson had a solid first day as a Rebel, finishing with 9 kills and 11 digs versus Canisius and then coming back with 7 kills and 12 digs in the afternoon match. She hit .375 against Siena. Sophomore setter Aubrey Edie did a good job all day setting up the Rebel hitters and finished with 76 assists.
In their first match of the day, Ole Miss and Canisius played a back and forth battle, but the Rebels prevailed in the opening two sets 25-23, 25-23 before pulling away in the third set 25-16.
With an early wakeup call and two matches in one day, you never know what might happen, but the Rebels got better as the day went on, taking care of Siena in three straight as well.
Siena stayed with Ole Miss early in the first set, but at 12-12, the Rebels went on a mini run to go up 17-13. They closed strong to take the set 25-17 and the early momentum in the match.
In the second set, the Rebels got out to a 12-7 lead, but Siena closed the gap to 13-11. Once again, the Rebels answered surging out to a commanding 23-16 lead which they would not relinquish winning 25-18.
The Rebels got off to a great start in the third set taking an 11-5 lead before Siena called timeout. Siena made a run of their own to cut the deficit to 13-11, as coach McRoberts called his first timeout of the set. The Rebels went back up 16-12 and pulled away for 25-18 and the match.
For more information on Ole Miss Volleyball, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissVB, on Facebook at OleMissVolleyball and on Instagram at OleMissVB.
