STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Ole Miss volleyball team hit at a season-high attacking percentage of .411, and defeated intrastate rival Mississippi State 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-14) on the road Friday night.
The win gives Ole Miss (11-15, 5-12 Southeastern Conference) the season sweep over the Bulldogs (4-22, 0-17 SEC) for the second time in three years. Ole Miss defeated the Bulldogs 3-1 (25-18, 24-26, 25-23, 25-12) on Sept. 21. Ole Miss has now won four of its last five matches against Mississippi State in Starkville.
“Our team came out and executed a good game plan, and I’m really proud of the way they stay focused the whole match,” Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin said. “We only had five errors on the evening. Our players have really been working hard in practice and it’s nice to see it show up in matches.”
Freshman middle blocker Nakeyta Clair continued her hot play of late, finishing with a team-high 11 kills, zero errors and six total blocks. Clair has now finished with double-digit kills in three of the last five matches. Senior right side Allegra Wells finished with 10 kills and zero errors. It was the 11th match this season for Wells with double-digit kills.
Senior setter Amanda Philpot flirted with another triple-double Friday night, finishing with 28 assists, nine kills and eight digs. Philpot also tied a season-high with three service aces. Senior libero Ashley Veach had a team-high tying 10 digs for the Rebels while also passing out a career-high tying nine assists. Junior outside hitter Kara Morgan had seven kills and a team-high tying 10 digs.
Ole Miss jumped out to an early lead in the first set, scoring the match’s first four points, including back-to-back service aces from Philpot. Philpot filled up the box score in the match’s opening frame, recording three kills, nine assists, two digs and three service aces. The two teams shared three ties in the first set, but the Rebels never trailed, winning the set 25-20 while finishing with an attacking percentage of .371.
The Rebels stayed hot again in the second set, winning 25-21, trailing once by just a single point. Ole Miss was led in the set by strong performances from Wells and Clair. Combined, the duo had nine kills in the second game on just 12 attempts with zero errors. As a team, Ole Miss hit at a .455 clip in the second set.
Ole Miss hit at a .407 clip in the third set and again never trailed, winning the set to close out the match 25-14. Philpot led the Rebels in the third game with four kills and seven assists, while freshman middle blocker Ty Laporte had back-to-back service aces. Laporte finished the match with six kills.
Ole Miss will now play at Arkansas (20-8, 11-6 SEC) on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. CT. The Rebels fell to Arkansas 3-1 (25-22, 16-25, 21-25, 13-25) in their first meeting Oct. 7. In that meeting, Ole Miss came out of the gates hot, winning the first set 25-22 as Philpot passed out 13 assists and Morgan had a team-high four kills in the opening frame. Arkansas responded in the next three sets, finishing the match with three players with double-digit kill totals. Philpot finished with a team-high 35 assists, Morgan had 14 kills and Whitney Craven had a team-high 12 digs. Arkansas checks in at No. 25 in the latest NCAA RPI, and is currently second in the SEC’s Western Division.
For all Ole Miss volleyball news and information, including live stats, recaps and results, go to OleMissSports.com. Follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissVB and go to Facebook at Ole Miss Volleyball.
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