Volleyball squad drops three straight games to fall to Florida

STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

The Ole Miss volleyball team dropped three straight games to the 12th-ranked Florida Gators, 15-4, 15-12, 15-2, at the Gillom Sports Center on Sunday. The loss drops the Lady Rebels to 8-8 overall and 1-3 in SEC play, while the Gators improve to 11-3 overall and 4-0 in conference play.

Ole Miss won the first two points in game one and took an early 4-1 lead over Florida before letting the Gators score 14 unanswered points. In game two, Ole Miss battled Florida to a 12-12 tie, before dropping three straight points to hand the Gators the 15-12 victory.

The Lady Rebels were led by outside hitters Kira and Karla Zschau. Kira Zschau, a senior, tallied nine kills, while Karla Zschau, a freshman, posted seven kills. Senior setter Renata Nowacki recorded 24 assists and six digs for Ole Miss while junior right-side hitter contributed six kills.

The Gators were led by Nicole McCray with 13 kills and Kris Bova with 37 assists.

Ole Miss will return to action on Friday, Oct. 6, when they take on Alabama at 7 p.m. at the Gillom Sports Center.

In action Friday night, the Lady Rebels got down early in all four games, but came back to defeat Georgia, 13-15, 16-14, 16-14, 16-14.

"This is perhaps the gutsiest performance in Ole Miss volleyball history," said Lady Rebel head coach John Blair. "To come back as many times as we did is unbelievable."

Ole Miss dropped game one and then pulled out game two after battling back and forth with the Lady Bulldogs. The Lady Rebels found themselves in a deep hole to start out game three as they got down 10-1 before coming back to pull out the win. Game four started the same way as game three for Ole Miss, as the Lady Bulldogs built a 6-1 lead. The Lady Rebels pulled themselves together and scored four straight points after being down 14-12,

to rally for the 16-14 win in the final game.

Kira Zschau had a career night in leading the Lady Rebels to victory. Zschau set a new career-high in kills with 26 and tied a career-high in digs with 22. Junior outside hitter Jaime Burns, in limited action due to shin splints, added 13 kills and 13 digs for Ole Miss. Karla Zschau, Burns' replacement, held her own as she posted 12 kills and nine digs.

"Our outside hitters were phenomenal tonight," said Blair. "Kira, Karla and Jaime really came through for us."

Nowacki posted 58 assists and 15 digs and sophomore middle blocker Erin Newsom collected eight kills, nine digs and eight blocks. Junior middle blocker Abby Hollander had five kills and seven blocks for the Lady Rebels and junior right-side hitter Leigh Rittiner also added five kills and seven blocks.

"This is a really good win for us," said Nowacki. "We played together as a team and fought hard for this win. Now we just need to use this momentum and build on it in our next match."

Ole Miss will return to action on Friday, when the Lady Rebels take on Alabama at 7 p.m. at the Gillom Sports Center.