Volleyball: Rebels Top South Carolina 3-1 in Home Regular Season Finale

Ole Miss Volleyball hosted the South Carolina Gamecocks for their last regular season home game and claimed a 3-1 victory. Rebel seniors Kate Gibson and Lexi Thompson were honored in a pregame ceremony at which they received their jerseys and plenty of cheers from their fans.
Early in the first set, the Rebels took a fast lead. Their explosive offense was backed by a tough defense. Fans were treated to an impressive rally between both teams that ended with a point for Ole Miss.
“I’ve never heard the stands so loud,” Thompson said, after the game. “It gave me chills.”
Sophomore outside hitter, Emily Stroup racked up eight kills in the first set, one of which was the set point. Ole Miss won the first set 25-11.
South Carolina showed that they came to play as the second set was underway. Both teams capitalized on scoring opportunities – and made defensive mistakes, too. The Rebels found themselves down 23 to 21 and couldn’t bounce back. South Carolina took the second set 25 to 21.
“They earned some points early in that second set after we took a quick lead, and we just seemed to never recover or get anything going,” said head coach Steven McRoberts. 
Senior Kate Gibson had three service aces in the third set. As a senior leader, her energy and effort visibly fired up all of her teammates. The Rebels jumped ahead with a 23-18 lead and went on to win the third set 25 to 18.
Coach McRoberts on the fourth set: “In that fourth set, getting 20 kills [was] huge for us because that’s something that we have been struggling with … It has to be close to a season high for us in a fourth set match. Good time to play that way.”
The Rebels closed out tonight’s game to sweep the season series against South Carolina with a 3-1 win.
The Rebels are looking forward to next week as they will find out if their season will continue with a National Invitational Volleyball Championship selection.

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By Elyse Lenaburg, Social Media Editor of HottyToddy.com. She can be reached at elyse.lenaburg@hottytoddy.com