University of Georgia Athletics
Georgia Volleyball Falls To Ole Miss On The Road
November 04, 2006 | Volleyball
OXFORD, Miss. --- The Georgia volleyball team (6-19, 2-13 Southeastern Conference) dropped its match to Ole Miss 3-0 (30-23, 30-20, 30-27) in Oxford, Miss., on Friday night. The Bulldogs stay in Mississippi for their second match of the weekend as they travel to Starkville to take on Mississippi State on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. EDT.
Head coach Steffi Legall said the key to the Rebels’ victory was them slowing Georgia’s offense in the middle.
“We were not able to run our middle offense until the third game and you have to credit Ole Miss for blocking our middles every time we got something going,” Legall said. “Ole Miss really had no answer for Maria (Taylor) tonight and Simona (Speed) had a good hitting night for us.”
Legall added that although Georgia out-dug its counterpart, Ole Miss was able to “transition their digs into points on offense.”
Taylor registered a game-high 18 kills for Georgia as junior Chelsea Young dished out 36 assists. Taylor, who finished with a .244 hitting percentage on 41 attempts, also led the Bulldogs with 18 digs.
The Rebels (15-11, 6-9) took control early in the first game and pulled out a 30-23 win. After strapping a 30-20 game-two win on the Bulldogs, Ole Miss began to have trouble with Georgia’s offense, but was able to edge the Bulldogs 30-27 to clinch the conference match.
Junior libero Brooke Burlingame also inched closer to breaking into the school's record books after recording 12 digs against the Rebels. Burlingame, who is a native of New Orleans, La., had now tallied (1,076) digs in her career and is only 159 short of passing Luresa Forsythe (2000-03), who is fifth on the all-time list with 1,235 digs.
The Bulldogs complete their road trip with a matchup versus Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., on Sunday. Georgia outlasted Mississippi State in five games the last time they played on Oct. 13.
Live stats and the recap for Sunday's match will be found at georgiadogs.com.