NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Playing in its final non-conference weekend, Ole Miss volleyball split its matches at the SFA Tournament on Friday.
The Rebels (6-4, 0-0 SEC) fell in a five-set thriller against Tulsa but bounced back in the second match against Sam Houston. The defense was strong, setting a new program record for digs in the rally scoring era with 113 in the first match and followed it up with a season-low opponent hitting percentage (-.056) in the evening match.
MATCH ONE | OLE MISS 2, TULSA 3
Battling with Tulsa in the morning match, the Rebels nearly stormed back from a two-set deficit, but the Golden Hurricane fended off the attempt in the fifth set.
Anna Bair led Ole Miss with her third career double-double, finishing with 18 kills and 12 digs. Cammy Niesen also had a career day, totaling 34 digs, the most by a Rebel since 2010 and third most in a single match in program history.
A slow start turned into a big deficit for the Rebels in the opening set. They managed to fight back within three at 18-21 but couldn’t close the gap on Tulsa. The Golden Hurricane took a tight second set with a late surge to go up two sets on Ole Miss.
Not backing down, the Rebels opened up the third set on a 6-1 run. Nia Washington gave Ole Miss a spark off the bench, tallying five of her eight total kills in the set. Payton Brgoch also got hot, recording four kills on five swings as the Rebels kept their foot on the gas and took the set 25-15.
Ole Miss continued to battle, gritting out a tight fourth set. Both teams went back and forth until a kill by Sasha Ratliff opened up a 3-0 run to create…
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