FORT MYERS, Fla. – Ole Miss volleyball fell to St. John’s 3-1 at the first match of the FGCU Homewood Suites Invitational Friday evening in Alico Arena.
Three Rebels finished in double figures, but it wasn’t enough as the Johnnies took early leads in three sets and hung on to outlast the Ole Miss. Anna Bair led the Ole Miss attack with 15 kills, followed by Julia Dyess and Vivian Miller with 12 each. Defensively, Payton Brgoch tallied eight blocks and helped hold St. John’s to a .172 hitting percentage.
Ole Miss came out strong in the opening set. The Rebels utilized multiple runs at the service line and a .300 hitting clip on offense to comfortably take set one, 25-18.
St. John’s evened the score in the second, building up an early 9-2 lead and never looked back. Ole Miss never quit, battling back within out point at 15-16, but a late 4-0 run by the Red Storm put the set out of reach.
Tied at one set, both teams battled back and forth in the third set. Trading blows, Ole Miss managed to take a late 19-17 lead after a block and kill by Sasha Ratliff. Forced to take a timeout to stop the momentum, St. John’s responded, tying the match at 20 and again at 23 before taking all the momentum to win the set.
Once again, the Rebels locked in for a close set that featured 10 ties. St. John’s managed to build up a 17-13 lead, but the Rebels fought back with a 5-0 run followed by another quick scoring burst late to take a 22-21 lead. Unfortunately, the Johnnies found a way to storm back and take the match 3-1.
The Rebels are back in action Saturday, taking on the tournament host, FGCU, at 5 p.m. CT on ESPN+.
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