Sept. 30, 2012

Stats

COLUMBIA, S.C. – A balanced effort by the Ole Miss volleyball team paced the Rebels to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-18, 25-23) sweep of South Carolina (13-4, 2-4 Southeastern Conference) in Columbia, S.C., on Sunday afternoon.

“I’m really proud of the team with the way they came back after a loss Friday night,” Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin said. “We had a good practice (Saturday). I’m proud that they stayed focused and executed a game plan. We did some really good things on the road. There was a good crowd here at South Carolina and it’s always good to get a road win.”

The Rebels (8-6, 2-3 SEC) had a balanced attack against the Gamecocks with four players recording seven or more kills, but no player with more than eight. Senior setter Amanda Philpot led the Ole Miss attack with a match-high 24 assists, seven kills and six digs. Junior outside hitter Kara Morgan led Ole Miss with eight kills, and senior libero Ashley Veach had a match-high 13 digs. It was the eighth straight match Veach has registered a dozen or more digs.

“Amanda did a good job of distributing the ball and getting the ball to the people who got us kills at the right time. We had some kids playing injured and I was really happy with the way the team came together to support them.”

Ole Miss jumped out to a 12-6 lead in the first set, prompting a timeout from South Carolina. The Gamecocks would later pull within two of Ole Miss at 14-12, but it was all Rebels for the remainder of the set as they won 25-19. Philpot led Ole Miss in the first set with four kills and six assists.

South Carolina came out strong in the second set and led the Rebels 7-4 early before Ole Miss went on a 7-1 run to take an 11-8 lead. Ole Miss kept its newly gained momentum for the remainder of the set and finished it out by taking it 25-18 to take a 2-0 lead in the match. Morgan had six kills for the Rebels in the second set, while Philpot had 10 assists and Veach had six digs.

Ole Miss opened the third set on fire, taking an 11-1 lead at the start. South Carolina wouldn’t back down though, and tied the match with the Rebels late at 23-23. A Gamecocks serving error gave Ole Miss a 24-23 lead, and a block assist by junior middle blocker Kellie Goss and senior outside hitter Whitney Craven closed out the match as the Rebels held on to win it 25-23.

Ole Miss returns home for its next match Friday vs. Kentucky at 7:00 p.m. CT. The Rebels will then face Arkansas on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. CT.

For all Ole Miss volleyball news and information, go to OleMissSports.com, follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissVB and go to Facebook at Ole Miss Volleyball.

Joe Getzin

Amanda Philpot