Season openers can get weird in any sport, including volleyball.
Momentum swings, long rallies, nerves, all of it. Ole Miss lived the full experience Friday night at the Gillom Center, starting the year with a reverse sweep that felt equal parts frustrating, necessary and encouraging.
The Rebels beat Southeastern Louisiana 3-2, but the path there wasn’t exactly smooth. It was more like a slow climb out of a ditch, one they fell into early and spent the rest of the night digging out of.
Ole Miss actually started fine, jumping ahead 4-1 behind Jorda Crook’s early swings. Then the first set turned into a tug‑of‑war with 16 ties and three Rebel set points that never landed. Southeastern Louisiana stole it 28-26, and suddenly the opener had a little tension to it.
The second set didn’t help. Ole Miss hit well in the first, then couldn’t find much rhythm in the second. Serving mistakes piled up, the Lions took advantage, and a 25-17 loss put the Rebels in a 0-2 hole. Not exactly the debut anyone had in mind.
But this is where the night flipped.
Freshman Jaidyn Hartsfield checked in for her collegiate debut and immediately changed the energy. Her first kill helped Ole Miss jump ahead 8-3 in the third, and the offense finally looked connected again. Crook and Shayla Meyer kept swinging, the Lions gave away points at the service line, and the Rebels steadied themselves with a 25-19 win.
The fourth set was more of the same. Southeastern Louisiana punched first, Ole Miss punched back harder. Crook delivered a kill and two aces to erase an early deficit, but Hartsfield stole the show. She stacked six kills in the set and led a 5-0 run that broke things open. Another 25-19 win, and suddenly the Rebels had all the momentum.
By the fifth, Ole Miss looked like a different team. Down 5-2, they responded with a 5-0 run fueled by defense and even a rare kill from libero Cameron Bradley, who finished with a career‑high 29 digs. From there, the veterans closed it out — Crook and Meyer combined for seven kills in the final frame to seal a 15-12 finish.
It wasn’t clean, but it was a comeback that showed some early-season backbone. Ole Miss is back at it tonight against Northern Arizona, and now it knows something important: even when the start is shaky, the fight is there.
