Texas A&M's win streak reaches three with four-set victory in Oxford

Two down, one to go.

On a crisp Wednesday evening, Texas A&M volleyball found itself in Oxford, Mississippi, for a match against Ole Miss in the team's fourth conference game of the season.

For the third straight game, the Aggies claimed a 3-1 victory (25-17, 17-25, 25-18, 25-18) and are now 12-2 on the year. The team is now 2-0 on this three-game road trip, and the Maroon & White improved to 3-1 in conference play with the win.

Coming into the game, A&M had just nabbed their first-ranked victory of the year with a 3-1 win at No. 24 Auburn, and Ole Miss had just knocked off LSU in four sets to improve to 12-3.

Something had to give, and it went the way of Jamie Morrison’s club.

The Aggies began the first set red hot and jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, with junior setter Maddie Waak picking up a pair of kills to help build the advantage. The Ags continued to apply pressure on the Rebels, and they were up by as many as eight with an 18-10 lead.

A slew of attack errors from Ole Miss helped A&M take control of the set, as the Rebels committed five errors after a 14-10 set. Junior opposite Logan Lednicky tacked on some kills of her own to give the Aggies a 22-16 lead, and an attack error from sophomore outside hitter Shayla Meyer of the Rebels gave A&M the 25-17 win.

Set 2 was one where the number of points scored was the same as the first, but in reverse.

Ole Miss had control for most of the way, as the Rebs colleged a seven-point lead early that ended up stifling A&M.

Meyer had back-to-back service aces that gave the Rebels a 12-5 advantage, and it was an uphill battle for A&M at that point. With Ole Miss leading 21-14, the Rebels claimed the set with kills from junior outside hitter Nia Washington for a 25-17 victory.

A&M got back on track in the third, but it was much more even to start than the previous two. Similar to how Ole Miss had control of the second, the Ags were in the driver's seat for most of round three

The Maroon & White only trailed twice in the frame, when Ole Miss had 1-0 and 5-4 leads. While it was a close period, A&M was up by at least three points on multiple score changes, and they eventually found themselves up 21-16. One difference maker for the Aggies was junior outside hitter Emily Hellmuth, who had four kills and a block.

Holding onto a 21-16 lead, Ole Miss was again plagued by sloppy play, as two of A&M's final three points came from Ole Miss attacking errors.

With the match going in its favor, A&M kept its momentum by using the formula they used in the first set: starting hot.

The Aggies took a 4-0 lead partly due to three more errors from the Rebels and another kill from Lednicky. The Ags stood firm and held an 11-4 lead with even more attack errors.

When the Aggies led 13-8, they never had a lead smaller than five from that point on, and more kills from Lednicky and junior middle blocker Ifenna Cos-Okpalla pushed A&M to the 25-18 win and the 3-1 victory.

With this win, A&M accomplished what no visiting team had done yet this season: Beating Ole Miss in Oxford. Before Wednesday's game, the Rebels were 5-0 on their home floor.

"This one feels great. I'm going to keep saying this: the SEC is a grind this year, and every team is good," Morrison said. "I thought Ole Miss imposed themselves in the second set, and I thought our response in the third and fourth was exactly what we needed, and that was to play Texas A&M volleyball, which is hard to beat."

For their final stop on this SEC road trip, A&M will be in Baton Rouge to face LSU on Oct. 13. 

First serve is set for 2 p.m. CT.