The Recap: Ole Miss Volleyball Falls To No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats in Friday Matchup

OXFORD, Miss. – Ole Miss volleyball dropped its match against No. 3 Kentucky, 3-0, on Friday evening at the Gillom Athletics Performance Center.

Ole Miss (9-5, 1-2 SEC) held Kentucky (10-2, 3-0 SEC) to its second fewest kills this season with 42, as Shayla Meyer and Gabi Placide tallied 11 kills each to lead the Rebels.

Cammy Niesen inched ever closer to claiming Ole Miss' all-eras digs record, tallying 12 against the Wildcats. Eva Hudson and Brooklyn DeLeye paced Kentucky offensively with 14 and 11 kills, respectively.

The Rebels hung tight through the first 10 points of the match but faced an early onslaught of scoring from the Wildcats following that.

After Ole Miss tied the set at five apiece, Kentucky rattled off six unanswered points to force an Ole Miss timeout.

Placide kept Ole Miss in the fight by scoring six kills in the first set, her 10th time doing so this season.

The first half of the second set featured a similar tone as the first set, but the Rebels found a rhythm midway through.

This hot streak, ignited by a kill from Tessa Jones, put the Rebels with two points of the Wildcats at 18-16, forcing them to regroup with a timeout.

Ole Miss kept up the attack and scored consecutive points via a service error and a Meyer kill, but Kentucky held its lead and took a second set victory, 25-21.

The Rebels had a bounce back effort in the third set, with Meyer and Placide recording four kills each. Kentucky would pull ahead midway through the frame once again for a commanding lead prior to a timeout.

The Rebels kept pressuring the Wildcats to finish and came up with another pair of kills. However, that wasn't enough as Kentucky would clinch the match with a kill from Hudson, finalizing the score at 3-0.

Ole Miss is back in action on Sunday when Auburn comes to town. First serve at the Gillom Center is set for 2 p.m. CT and will be broadcast on SECN+.

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