Texas volleyball enters Friday’s match at Ole Miss halfway home to one of its goals. The No. 2 Longhorns (16-0, 8-0 SEC) remain half a game ahead of No. 3 Kentucky at the top the SEC standings, with neither team yet to lose in conference play.
Last season, Kentucky edged Texas in the Longhorns’ SEC debut, which snapped a streak of seven consecutive conference titles for Texas.
The two teams meet Nov. 2 in Austin, but the Longhorns have some work to do to stay perfect before that match starting Friday against Ole Miss. The Rebels (10-9, 2-6) may sit near the bottom of the conference standings, but they’re coming off a thrilling 3-2 win Oct. 19 over Vanderbilt behind 25 kills from outside hitter Gabi Placide, who ranks second in the SEC with 4.62 kills per set.
Setter Ella Swindle leads Texas after picking up her second consecutive conference setter of the week from the SEC. The 6-foot-3 junior totaled 64 assists, four aces and two blocks in last week’s home wins over Arkansas and Oklahoma. In the two wins, the Longhorns hit .340 and .313, respectively.
Friday’s match starts at 7 p.m. Follow along for scores and live updates from Texas volleyball at Ole Miss.
Credit the Ole Miss defense for getting the Longhorns completely out of system. The Rebels are hitting. 296 to .269 for Texas, and Ole Miss star Gabi Placide has six kills on 11 swings. Let’s see what Jerritt Elliott can do to get Texas back on track.
A service ace by Bella Bonnano and a hitting error by Texas’ Cari Spears, and the Rebels are suddenly on a 3-0 spurt. Texas coach Jerritt Elliott is challenging a non-call on a net violation by Ole Miss. Anything to slow the momentum.
Ole Miss attacker Gabi Placide is showing her quality against the Longhorns’ big block with four kills. But she’s going to need some help against the balanced Texas attack. The Longhorns have eight kills and have yet to commit an attacking error on 20 swings.
Two kills from Torrey Stafford and a kill and a block from Nya Bunton have the Longhorns off to a fast start. It’s not a big crowd at cozy Gillom Center, and the fans are pretty quiet early.
Middle blocker Nya Bunton will get the start for Texas over freshman Taylor Harvey, who has started over the past month. Setter Ella Swindle, defensive specialist Ramsey Gary, middle blocker Ayden Ames and libero Emma Halter also join outsider hitters Torrey Stafford and Cari Spears in the starting lineup. Ole Miss will start Cammy Niesen, Mikihana Tufono, Gabi Placide, Carson Eickenloff, Tessa Jones, Melia Johnson and Shayla Meyer in the starting lineup.
Where: Gillom Center in Oxford, Miss.