The University of Mississippi Athletics
Saturday, November 30
Lexington, Ky.
12 PM
Ole Miss
14-15, 6-12SEC
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Kentucky
23-6, 16-2SEC
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Ole Miss
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Kentucky
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Rebels Drop Finale at No. 14 Kentucky
11/30/2019 | Volleyball
Ole Miss falls 3-0 to the Wildcats in Lexington
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Ole Miss Volleyball (14-15, 6-12 SEC) fell in straight sets in its 2019 finale to No. 14 Kentucky (23-6, 16-3 SEC) Saturday at Memorial Coliseum. The Wildcats earned their third consecutive SEC conference championship with the victory.
"I'm proud of this group of young ladies," head coach Steven McRoberts said. "They never stopped working and fighting. There were a couple of moments over the past six weeks that really could have changed the course of our season, but through it all I'm thankful that this group stayed together in both the good and bad. We will definitely miss Leah, Nayo, Purcy and Stroup. They have left a great legacy for our program."
Senior Emily Stroup wrapped up her historic Rebel career, adding eight kills and finishing with 1,539 as the program's all-time rally scoring leader. Stroup will also leave Oxford with the top two single-season records for kills and the top four single-match records for the same statistic. She finished with 979 career digs, and will rank in the Top 10 in four other categories in the Ole Miss Record Book.
Veteran libero Nicole Purcell tallied 12 digs and finishes the season with 555, a program rally-scoring best. Purcell has logged three of the Top Five single-match performances this season alone, and has led the league all season in both digs and digs per set, boasting over 100 more than the next-best performer. She leaves fourth all-time in rally scoring history at Ole Miss with over 1,200 digs.
Outside Leah Mulkey finishes her career at Ole Miss with nearly 400 kills, and middle blocker Nayo Warnell will leave second in program history (rally scoring) with 387 total blocks and 316 block assists, and finished her career just two solo rejections shy of third place all-time, ending with 71. She also leaves third all-time in hitting efficiency with .316, after ranking in the Top 15 in the nation in the category all season.
Kentucky used a 7-1 run to build a five-point lead in the opening stanza, but the Rebels right away began to battle, tallying five consecutive points, including a pair of aces from junior setter Lauren Bars and a block from the veteran duo of Warnell and Mulkey, to even things at 11-11.
Kentucky regained control, but back-to-back slams from sophomore Aubrey Sultemeier and Stroup tied the contest once more at 16-16. From there the Wildcats rolled on a 4-0 run, and maintained that cushion at 21-17. Another set of kills from Sultemeier and Stroup, this time with the addition of Mulkey, trimmed the UK lead to 22-20, but the Wildcats pushed, taking three of the final four points, to take a 1-0 match lead at 25-21.
After emerging victorious on a nearly 30-second rally to even things 7-7 in the second frame, a game of back-and-forth ensued. The squads endured five ties from that point to the 15-14 mark, at which Kentucky secured eight of the next 10 points to build a 20-15 advantage.
A sequence that found libero Purcell on a pancake play followed by a pair of diving saves kept the Rebels alive at 21-17 and handed Ole Miss some momentum as they collected three straight points (including a Sultemeier/Bars block and ace from junior Izzy Guzik) to threaten at 23-20.
UK went on to take the set and a 2-0 match lead at 25-20.
The Rebels were unable to put together a rally in the third set, falling 25-19 and suffering a sweep in their finale.
"I'm proud of this group of young ladies," head coach Steven McRoberts said. "They never stopped working and fighting. There were a couple of moments over the past six weeks that really could have changed the course of our season, but through it all I'm thankful that this group stayed together in both the good and bad. We will definitely miss Leah, Nayo, Purcy and Stroup. They have left a great legacy for our program."
Senior Emily Stroup wrapped up her historic Rebel career, adding eight kills and finishing with 1,539 as the program's all-time rally scoring leader. Stroup will also leave Oxford with the top two single-season records for kills and the top four single-match records for the same statistic. She finished with 979 career digs, and will rank in the Top 10 in four other categories in the Ole Miss Record Book.
Veteran libero Nicole Purcell tallied 12 digs and finishes the season with 555, a program rally-scoring best. Purcell has logged three of the Top Five single-match performances this season alone, and has led the league all season in both digs and digs per set, boasting over 100 more than the next-best performer. She leaves fourth all-time in rally scoring history at Ole Miss with over 1,200 digs.
Outside Leah Mulkey finishes her career at Ole Miss with nearly 400 kills, and middle blocker Nayo Warnell will leave second in program history (rally scoring) with 387 total blocks and 316 block assists, and finished her career just two solo rejections shy of third place all-time, ending with 71. She also leaves third all-time in hitting efficiency with .316, after ranking in the Top 15 in the nation in the category all season.
Kentucky used a 7-1 run to build a five-point lead in the opening stanza, but the Rebels right away began to battle, tallying five consecutive points, including a pair of aces from junior setter Lauren Bars and a block from the veteran duo of Warnell and Mulkey, to even things at 11-11.
Kentucky regained control, but back-to-back slams from sophomore Aubrey Sultemeier and Stroup tied the contest once more at 16-16. From there the Wildcats rolled on a 4-0 run, and maintained that cushion at 21-17. Another set of kills from Sultemeier and Stroup, this time with the addition of Mulkey, trimmed the UK lead to 22-20, but the Wildcats pushed, taking three of the final four points, to take a 1-0 match lead at 25-21.
After emerging victorious on a nearly 30-second rally to even things 7-7 in the second frame, a game of back-and-forth ensued. The squads endured five ties from that point to the 15-14 mark, at which Kentucky secured eight of the next 10 points to build a 20-15 advantage.
A sequence that found libero Purcell on a pancake play followed by a pair of diving saves kept the Rebels alive at 21-17 and handed Ole Miss some momentum as they collected three straight points (including a Sultemeier/Bars block and ace from junior Izzy Guzik) to threaten at 23-20.
UK went on to take the set and a 2-0 match lead at 25-20.
The Rebels were unable to put together a rally in the third set, falling 25-19 and suffering a sweep in their finale.
Team Stats
OM
UK
Kills
27
47
Errors
17
8
Attempts
82
98
Hitting %
.122
.398
Points
35.0
63.0
Assists
26
44
Aces
6
7
Blocks
2.0
9.0
Game Leaders
Kills-Aces-Blocks
Kills
8
Aces
1
Blocks
0
Kills
6
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
0
Kills
3
Aces
0
Blocks
1
Players Mentioned
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/ Volleyball
OH
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ VolleyballMB
/ Volleyball
MB
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