Ole Miss Claims NIVC Title Behind Another Strong Emily Stroup Performance

2017 NIVC TOURNAMENT – FINALS

• December 12, 2017
• Oxford, Mississippi
• Bracket
• Championship Central

OLE MISS DEF. TEXAS TECH 3-0 (25-17, 25-15, 25-19)

• Ole Miss finishes the season 22-14; Texas Tech ends the year 19-15
• Attendance: 1,012
• Box Score

In the first NIVC since its new format and last tournament – 1995 – the Ole Miss Rebels came out victorious over Texas Tech in the Championship match 3-0. It was a strong final performance to end the season, as they kept the Red Raiders from scoring 20 in all three sets.

Ole Miss did it on both ends of the court as they hit .276 while holding Texas Tech to a .114 mark. They did it with strong play in the back row (66-47 in team digs) and a smooth serving match that featured five aces to one serve error compared to one ace and four serve errors from the Red Raiders.

Just like she was in the semifinal round, Emily Stroup dominated with 17 kills, giving her 36 in the two final matches of the NIVC. She also hit .353 for this match and tacked on 11 digs.

IT’S OVER!! ?

Your Ole Miss Rebels are the 2017 @WomensNIVC Champions!!#HottyToddy #FinsUpRebels pic.twitter.com/GzMNVIar6k

— Ole Miss Volleyball (@OleMissVB) December 13, 2017

Other big performers for Ole Miss were Kate Gibson (nine kills, 15 digs) and Lexi Thompson (nine kills, 12 digs) in their final collegiate match as well as junior Caroline Adams (16 digs), who surpassed the school record for most digs for a season.

In the losing effort for Texas Tech, Chandler Atwood (11 kills, four digs) continued her strong tournament in what could be a springboard to her junior season. While her career is just getting started, Kate Klepetka‘s came to a close with a solid 15 dig performance. Junior Missy Owens also totaled 25 assists, four digs and three kills. Unfortunately for the Red Raiders, no other player logged more than five kills as the Ole Miss serve kept them on their heels.

The two teams also made up four of the six players on the NIVC All-Tournament Team, seen below:

The 2017 #NIVC All-Tournament Team

Emily Stroup (MVP), Ole Miss

Kate Gibson, @OleMissVB
Caroline Adams, Ole Miss
Missy Owens, @TexasTechVB
Kate Klepetka, Texas Tech
Mia Swanegan, @WVUVolleyball
Anna Walsh, @TCUvolleyball

Thank you all for a great tournament!

— Women’s NIVC (@WomensNIVC) December 13, 2017

Ole Miss needed to go through a variance of different opponents to reach this point, as they downed a pair of mid-majors before taking out SEC-foe Georgia. That took them to a Big 12 semifinal party, where they were the lone school outside of the conference. They defeated West Virginia before earning this one to complete the NIVC Championship run. In total, they lost just one set in their five-match run as they add a trophy to their case in Oxford.