Sept. 9, 2011
Site: Oxford, Miss. (Gillom Sports Center)
Score: Ole Miss 3, Northwestern 1
Records: NU (5-2), Ole Miss (3-4)
Next NU Event: Sept. 10, 2011 -- vs. Arkansas-Little Rock (Oxford, Miss.), 10 a.m. CT
OXFORD, Miss. -- Northwestern fell Friday night at Magnolia Invitational host Ole Miss, 3-1 (21-25, 25-20, 29-31, 20-25) following an epic extra-point third set loss.
With the match knotted at one set apiece, a third set that was barely separated by a single point the entire time reached the first set point at 25-24 in favor of the Rebels. A Northwestern kill from Yewande Akanbi staved off the first set point before another Akanbi kill did the same to a second. The Wildcats earned their own set point off a Stephanie Holthus kill, but Ole Miss fought that off before eventually ending up with the 31-29 win.
From there, Ole Miss opened up leads of 8-2 and 17-10 in the fourth set before fighting off a Northwestern comeback to take the decisive stanza and win the match, 3-1.
Kathryn Chrystal hit .400 with eight kills and no errors on the attack for NU while Holthus added 12 kills and freshman right side Hannah Crippen tallied 11 kills. Holthus also made 14 digs for her second double-double of the day and her third of the season. Senior Alex Ayers added 10 digs and libero Julie Chin made 16 for the Wildcats.
Freshman middle blocker Katie Dutchman had nine kills and seven blocks in the match.
Northwestern returns to action at 10 a.m. CT tomorrow, Saturday, Sept. 10, against Arkansas-Little Rock in its final match at the Magnolia Invitational.
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