UNIVERSITY RELEASE — Originally published by Ole Miss Athletics, Nov. 8, 2026.
Ole Miss took the second set and came all the way back in the third, and then the fourth was not close. Arkansas beat the Rebels 3-1 on Sunday afternoon at the Gillom Athletics Performance Center in the home finale. Ole Miss falls to 8-16 overall and 2-11 in the SEC; Arkansas moves to 13-11 and 5-8.
Set Scores
Arkansas 3, Ole Miss 1 — 25-20, 22-25, 25-22, 25-14
Who Did It
- Jorda Crook — 13 kills, three blocks and two aces
- Shayla Meyer — 12 kills, 11 digs and a .310 afternoon
- Vivianna Samaniego — 37 assists and 10 digs
- Rileigh Butler — a career-high 15 digs
- Jaidyn Hartsfield — nine kills and four blocks
- Melia Johnson — seven kills
How It Went
The first set was even at 10-10 before Arkansas ran out to 18-12. Two big swings from Johnson and a kill from Meyer pulled it back to 21-18, with Keirstyn Carlton adding blocks, but Arkansas closed it from there.
The second was the Rebels’ set, and the blocking is what won it. Five early kills from Crook tied it 7-7, Ryea Jackson led a 3-0 run for a 10-8 lead, and after Arkansas pulled even at 12-12 Ole Miss ran off a 6-2 stretch behind blocks from Carlton, Crook and Hartsfield. Arkansas hit .057 in the set. Ole Miss converted its fourth set point on a block.
The third was the one that got away. Down 10-6, Ole Miss tied it 20-20 on six more kills from Crook and swings from Hartsfield and Meyer down the stretch, then Arkansas took the lead late off Rebel mistakes.
The fourth ended it quickly. Crook served an ace and Meyer had three early kills, but Arkansas led 15-10 at the technical timeout and pulled away.
The Numbers
Arkansas finished with 54 kills to Ole Miss’s 52 and hit .271 to the Rebels’ .187, on 129 attack attempts to 134. Ole Miss actually took the assist column 51 to 50. Arkansas took aces 5 to 3 and blocks 14 to 9.5. The gap was the error column: 27 for Ole Miss to 19 for Arkansas. On more swings and with nearly as many kills, those eight extra errors are most of the 84-point hitting-percentage difference, and the Rebels lost in four.
Ole Miss goes back on the road Friday at No. 13 Texas at 6:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network Plus.
📄 Read the full university release: Volleyball Falls 3-1 to Arkansas → (OleMissSports.com)