Volleyball Dominates Mississippi State 3-1

STARKVILLE, Miss. – After dropping a tight first set, Ole Miss volleyball put on a clinic, dominating Mississippi State 3-1 in the Magnolia State Showdown Wednesday night inside the Newell-Grissom Building.

In enemy territory, the Rebels (10-10, 6-4 SEC) came out and stunned their in-state rivals in Mississippi State (11-9, 4-6 SEC) on its home court. The middle blockers, Sasha Ratliff and Payton Brgoch, took over the match, combining for 30 kills and 14 blocks. They were two of four Rebels to finish with double-figure kills, joined by Katie Corelli and Julia Dyess. Dyess also recorded 14 digs, tallying her first career double-double in the victory. Freshman Aly Borellis navigated the offense to a .268 hitting percentage behind 52 assists, one shy of her career high. Defensively, Cammy Niesen, Maggie Miller and Dyess were flying around the court, all registering 10-plus digs.

After a brief feeling-out period, MSU began to gain separation with a 4-0 run, forcing the Rebels to call their first timeout down 9-12. Ratliff came out of the break and tied the match up with a 3-0 scoring run on her own. Ole Miss battled back and forth with the Bulldogs until a kill from Julia Dyess and an MSU service error gave Ole Miss set point. Backs against the wall, Mississippi State used its final timeout to flip the momentum and spark a 3-0 run to take the set, 26-24.

Ole Miss came out with a chip on its shoulder in the second set, using a 5-0 run to make it a 9-5 contest. From there, the Rebels increased their lead to six as Ratliff and Corelli came alive with six and five kills, respectively. Ole Miss cruised to victory in…