Nov. 5, 2004

Box Score

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Ole Miss (10-15, 2-11 SEC) came into the weekend with its back against the wall for an SEC Tournament berth, and its chances took a hit on Friday night as the Lady Rebels dropped a tough match with Alabama (17-7, 7-6 SEC) by a score of 3-0 (16-30, 12-30, 26-30).

Elena Garcia and Tricia Eble led the way for Ole Miss, tallying seven and six kills, respectively. Garcia also came up with seven digs to lead Ole Miss' defensive effort.

Erin Heffner put down 15 kills for the Crimson Tide, while Julie Farley added 14 kills of her own. Alabama hit .385 for the match, while the Lady Rebels hit .046 for the night.

"This is a disappointing loss for us," said Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin. "Hopefully we can take this and respond better on Sunday against Auburn."

Ole Miss opened up the match with a service ace from Ashley Shear, but the Crimson Tide answered with three straight points to take the lead 4-1. The Lady Rebels cut the lead to 4-3, but the Crimson Tide pushed back ahead from there as Ole Miss called timeout down 11-5.

The Lady Rebels fought with the Tide, but were unable to cut the lead to within five as both teams traded scores. Ole Miss called its second timeout of the match when Alabama went ahead 19-12 on a serve from the Tide that landed out, but the official called it in.

Alabama pushed ahead 24-14 from there, taking control of the first game and claiming a 1-0 match lead with a 30-16 win in game one. The Lady Rebels hit .000 for the first game, struggling to find an offensive and defensive answer for a hard hitting Crimson Tide team.

The Tide took the first point of the second game, but Cory Tidwell laid down a tough kill to even the score. The Lady Rebels took the lead on an attack error from the Tide on the next point, but Alabama quickly tied things up before taking a 4-2 lead. Ole Miss tied things back at four on the hands of Tidwell and Toohey, then took back the lead 5-4 on a net violation by Alabama.

The Crimson Tide wasted no time in regaining the lead, using a quick four-point run to take an 8-5 lead and force Ole Miss into a timeout. The Lady Rebels continued to misfire on offense and Alabama found the holes in defense to push out to a 16-5 lead on Ole Miss. Getzin called timeout for his Lady Rebel team when the lead grew to 20-7 in favor of the Tide.

The lead grew for Alabama out of the break, and the Crimson Tide took the second game 30-12.

Ole Miss scored first out of the gates in the third game, but Alabama tied the game back up on a block error by Ole Miss on the next point. The Lady Rebels tied things at four, before taking the lead back on a block from Kristen Carroll, but a service error tied the game at five and the Tide took the lead back 6-5 on an attack error by Ole Miss.

Alabama pushed ahead 9-6 from there, but the Lady Rebels cut the lead to one at 9-8. The Crimson Tide again strung together a run, taking the lead back out to six points at 15-9 and forcing Ole Miss into a timeout.

The Lady Rebels put together a solid run from there, cutting the lead to two and forcing the Crimson Tide into its own timeout with the lead at 24-22. Ole Miss and Alabama traded sores from there, but it was Alabama who came out on top as the Crimson Tide fought off the Lady Rebel run to take the match with a 30-26 win in game three.

Ole Miss will return to action on Sunday, taking on the Auburn Tigers at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.