Oct. 15, 1999
OXFORD, Miss. – The UK volleyball team jumped out to a quick 2-0 start on Fridayat Ole Miss, but were pushed to a deciding game five in an emotionally grueling3-2 Wildcat victory. Game scores for the match were 15-3, 15-7, 14-16, 8-15,15-9. UK is now 10-8 overall and 3-4 in SEC play.
The Cats began the match clicking on all cylinders offensively as theycruised to a 15-3 game one win. UK out-hit Ole Miss (8-10, 0-6 SEC) by adecided margin in the game, .348 to -.069. After recording five kills in gameone, Katie Eiserman continued to lead the Cats with four kills in game twoas UKclaimed a 2-0 lead in the match with a 15-7 victory in game two. Eisermantotaled team-highs with 21 kills and 17 digs, recording her 13th double-doubleof the season.
Focused on putting away the Lady Rebels in game three, the Cats jumpedout to a lead of 5-1 in game three. Ole Miss would not go down easily howeverand went on a seven point run, earning the Rebels an 8-5 lead. The Cats foughtback for an 11-9 advantage before the Rebs came back again to gain game pointat 14-12. UK showed its resiliency once again though, staving off game point totie the game at 14-14. Finally Ole Miss won the war of attrition, taking thenext two points for a 16-14 win. Ole Miss was led in the match by seniorRebecca Rider who posted a career-high 24 kills.
Seemingly stunned that they weren?t able to put the Rebels away inthreestraight, the Cats came out flat in game four. The Cats fell behind 5-0 and 8-1before putting together a couple runs of their own, getting as close as 13-8.But Ole Miss won the game convincingly, 15-8, to push the match to the decidinggame five.
Coming to the realization that they could actually lose the match afterseeming to have it in their pocket, the Cats drew together in the rally-scoredgame five to regain control of the match. UK scored the first point of the gameon a kill by Kristen Batt and never was tied again though the game did stayclose throughout the early going. The Cats held a 7-5 lead when back-to-backkills by Batt and an ace by Terri Crabb put UK in the driver?s seat at 10-5.Eiserman then took the wheel for the Cats and pounded out kills for three ofthe Cats next five points for a 15-9 UK game five win.
The Cats conclude their tour of Mississippi on Sunday when theyplay theLady Bulldogs of Mississippi State at MSU?s Newell-Grissom Building. The matchwill begin at 1 p.m. CT.
