Alabama
15-7, 4-5
Ole Miss
13-9, 2-7
Alabama Volleyball Falls to Ole Miss in Four Sets Sunday
10/23/2016 4:07:00 PM | Volleyball
OXFORD, Miss. - Alabama volleyball dropped its Sunday road match at Ole Miss, falling to the Rebels in four sets.
Alabama (15-7, 4-5 SEC) lost the opening set to Ole Miss (13-9, 2-7 SEC), 18-25, but rebounded with a 25-21 win in the second to even the match heading into the locker room at intermission. The Rebels came back with 15-25 and 19-25 wins in the third and fourth sets, respectively, to ultimately win the match. The Tide was led by Krystal Rivers with 31 kills, adding 11 digs for her sixth double-double and third in SEC play. The performance marked her fifth match of the season and sixth of the career with 30-plus kills, the most of any player in program history.
Alabama scored the first point of the opening set but Ole Miss quickly regained the lead and remained in front for the remainder of the set. Alabama took its first timeout trailing 12-7 but back-to-back points for the Tide later cut the Rebels' lead to 15-11 as they took their own timeout just past the halfway point. Alabama scored a point after the break to make it 15-12 but Ole Miss responded with three-straight points to stretch back ahead 18-12 as the Tide took its second timeout. Each team scored six more points as Ole Miss reached set point, 24-18, and a block on the right side gave the Rebels the 25-18 win.
The Tide opened the second set on a 7-4 run before a timeout on the floor following an injury to Shannon Mikesky, as Alexa Tomlak entered at setter. A 5-1 run by Alabama extended the lead to 12-5 as Ole Miss took its first timeout and the Tide led by nine at the Rebels' second timeout, 17-8. Alabama made it a double-digit lead at 21-11 before Ole Miss rattled off four unanswered points to force a Tide timeout with the score at 21-15. The Rebels continued to close the gap, drawing within four at the Tide's second timeout, 23-19, but Alabama would hold on to win by the same margin, 25-21, and even the match at 1-1.
Leading 6-4 early in set three, Ole Miss scored three-straight points to make it 9-4 and force an early timeout by Alabama. The Rebels added three more unanswered points after the break to lead 12-4 as the Tide quickly burned it second timeout. Ole Miss eventually led by double digits, 14-4, and maintained the 10-point lead until the end, winning 25-15 to take a 2-1 match lead.
Ole Miss took an early 5-1 lead in set four and, leading by the same margin later at 10-6, the Rebels scored three-straight points to build a 13-6 lead at the halfway point as Alabama took a timeout. Down 16-9, the Tide scored three-straight points capped by a Rivers service ace to make it 16-12 as the Rebels took a timeout. Ole Miss jumped back ahead by seven points, 21-14, before another run of three-straight points by Alabama cut the lead back to four points as the Rebels took its second timeout up 21-17. A 3-1 run by the Rebels made it match point, 24-18, and eventually win the set, 25-19, to claim the four-set victory.
Next up, the Tide returns home for a pair of conference contests, facing Tennessee (13-8, 3-5 SEC) on Friday, Oct. 28 at 6 p.m. CT on the SEC Network and Kentucky (17-4, 10-0 SEC) on Sunday, Oct. 30 at 1:30 p.m. CT.
For the latest information on Alabama volleyball, follow the team on Twitter (@AlabamaVball), Instagram (AlabamaVball) and Facebook.
