In the first match for Ole Miss at the Indiana Invitational, the Rebels put their undefeated record on the line and came out victorious with a 3-1 win against Chicago State Thursday night at Wilkinson Hall. Ole Miss continues the 2021 campaign unblemished, moving to 9-0.
Despite one of its lower hitting percentages of the season, Ole Miss had four with five-plus kills. On the outside, Anna Bair recorded her sixth double-digit kill match of the season with 18 kills, while Kylee McLaughlin tacked on 37 assists. In the back row, Sam Burgio totaled 16 digs for her fifth match of the year with double-digit digs.
Bair kicked off the match for Ole Miss by recording the team’s first two kills of the day, as a 3-0 run allowed the Rebs to lead early at 4-2. The Cougars kept the set close, pulling within one as Ole Miss led 10-9, before a 4-2 Rebel run allowed them to take a 14-11 lead. Ole Miss went up by six to take its largest lead of the set at 19-13. A quick 4-0 run from the Cougars tightened up the set as the Rebels held onto their lead, 19-17. A 3-1 Chicago State run tied up the set at 20 and remained tied through 21 before Ole Miss took off on a 4-0 run by way of three straight kills and a Cougar error to take set one 25-21.
Chicago State came out strong early in the second set to lead 4-1 before the Ole Miss offense got going with back-to-back kills from Sasha Ratliff and GG Carvacho, still trailing 5-4. The Cougars remained tough, capitalizing off Rebel errors to continue to hold their lead at 12-9. The Rebels clawed their way back to ultimately take the lead at 15-14 off of three straight Cougar errors. A duo block from Payton Brgoch and Samantha Schnitta, along with a Carvacho kill, highlighted a 5-0 Ole Miss run to extend its lead to 21-15. The Rebels held control the rest of the set, hitting at a .241 clip to win set two 25-21.
The Rebels trailed early yet again in the third set, as Chicago State went up quickly 4-2 off a 3-0 run. After trailing 9-6, Ole Miss grinded to stay within reach as Brgoch added a kill to pull within two. Multiple Cougar runs allowed them to control the set with their largest lead by six at 19-13. A 3-0 Rebel run cut the deficit to three, trailing 19-16. It seemed as if the set was in the hands of the Cougars, yet the Rebels pieced together another 3-0 run to trail 22-20. However, Ole Miss was unable to catch up with Chicago State as it took set three 25-23.
Ole Miss headed to a fourth set for the fifth match in a row and came out hot with an early 5-0 run to lead 7-2. It was all Rebels the remainder of the set, leading by as many as nine as Ole Miss never trailed in the fourth to win 25-15 and take the match over the Cougars 3-1.
Ole Miss will play two tomorrow in the final day of the Indiana Invitational, taking on Alabama A&M at 11 a.m. CT followed by the host Hoosiers at 6 p.m. The match against IU is set to stream on Big Ten Network + ($).
Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports
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