WINTER HAVEN, Fla. --- The Mississippi College volleyball team improved to 6-0 on the season as it opened the Rollins Invitational with back-to-back wins over Florida Institute of Technology (3-1) and the host Tars (3-2). The victories marked the first in program history over either of the Sunshine State Conference foes.
 
Sophomore Julia Sumrall also made history for the Navy and Gold as she recorded 10 blocks in the five-set win over RC to become the first player in the program to accomplish the feat in a single match. The Jackson, Miss., native totaled 14 rejections on the day.
 
Offensively for the Choctaws, Lexie Laurendine helped guide the attack as she led the team with 61 assists, including a season-high 36 against FIT. The super senior also added 23 kills on the day – one of three MC players to register 20-plus kills combined in the two matches.
 
Fellow super senior, Kendall Platt, paced the squad with a team-best 25 kills on the afternoon as she recorded a season-high 14 kills against the Panthers. Freshman Carolina Chastang finished second on the team in kills with 24, as she equaled a season-high with a team-best 13 kills against RC.
 
Sophomore Ali Wiggins finished second on the squad as she dished out 33 assists. Fellow sophomore, Lydia Paulette, missed the 20-plus kill mark as she totaled 19 in the two contests.
 
Defensively, sophomore Missy Beber recorded 41 digs as she picked up a season-best 25 against FIT. MC as a team totaled 19 blocks in the two contests. Paulette finished second on the squad with eight.
 
MC trailed 2-1 in its final contest of the day against the Tars, but rallied to send the match to the deciding set with a 25-15 hammering of its Sunshine State host. The Navy and Gold rode the momentum into the fifth set as it jumped out to a 4-1 lead. However, RC would not let the Magnolia State visitors walk away with a victory so easily as it knotted the contest at 5-all. The two schools exchanged leads and ties until MC grabbed a 12-9 advantage on a service ace from sophomore Londyn Bakeris and never looked back as it won the match behind a 15-12 win in the fifth.
 
The Choctaws and Panthers opened the day in the same fashion as the final contest of the afternoon with both teams taking one of the first two sets, but the Navy and Gold were not going to let its unbeaten streak fall by the wayside as it took the next two sets 25-20 and 25-21. MC never trailed following the second set.
 
Mississippi College returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 3 as it closes out the Rollins Invitational against Belmont Abbey College in the second meeting between the two programs in a week. MC defeated the Crusaders in straight sets at the Union Classic last weekend in Jackson, Tenn. First serve is set for 9 a.m. central.
 
 
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