Volleyball To Host Magnolia Invitational

Sept. 4, 2001

OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss volleyball team will open the 2001 home schedule this weekend by hosting the Magnolia Invitational Friday and Saturday at the Gillom Sports Center. The tournament also features Arkansas State, Samford, Southern Mississippi and Tennessee-Martin.

"We are excited about hosting a tournament," Lady Rebel head coach John Blair said. "Our tournament will have a good regional flavor to it with some of our traditional regional rivals - Arkansas State and Southern Miss - both very competitive programs. Southern Miss has a new coach and they will be ready to play. Arkansas State had less than acceptable results last year, so they will be fired up. It should be a great weekend."

"It will be great to be at home and have two days where people can come and watch us play several matches," senior middle blocker Abby Hollander said. "We are excited about the caliber of teams coming to the tournament, and we want to encourage all the fans to come out and see some exciting volleyball."

Ole Miss will look to claim its first victory of the season after a tough stretch of matches at the Days Inn Classic in Harrisonburg, Va., last weekend. The Lady Rebels dropped 3-0 decisions to James Madison (2000 NCAA tournament participant), Rutgers and Xavier. Senior Jaime Burns had 24 kills and 28 digs to lead the Lady Rebels. Freshman Elena Garcia started her first match as a Lady Rebel, when she got the nod against James Madison.

Arkansas State comes into the weekend with a 2-1 record. The Lady Indians posted wins over Texas-Arlington and North Carolina A&T and lost to Oregon. Senior middle hitter Katie Silliman leads ASU with 35 kills for an average of 2.92 per game. Ole Miss and the Lady Indians will conclude the two-day tournament Saturday at 7 p.m.

Samford, whom Ole Miss will meet at Noon on Friday, is 0-4 on the season after dropping all four matches at the Rice University tournament last weekend. Senior outside hitter Whitney Miller led the Bulldogs at the Rice tournament with 62 kills and 32 digs. She averaged 4.13 kills and 2.13 digs per game.

Southern Mississippi went 2-1 at the Troy State Trojan Labor Day Classic. The Golden Eagles lost to Troy State in the first match and then posted victories against Belmont and Bethune-Cookman. Senior middle blocker Kelly Tribble finished with a team-leading 48 kills. Crystal Zane, a junior setter for USM, totaled 133 assists in the three matches. Ole Miss and Southern Mississippi will play at 7 p.m. Friday.

The Lady Rebels will face Tennessee-Martin Saturday at Noon. The Skyhawks enter the tournament with a 2-2 record. At the Indiana State Tournament this past weekend, UT-Martin defeated Indiana-Purdue and St. Francis (N.Y.), while falling to College of Charleston and Indiana State.

Following the 7 p.m. matches on Friday and Saturday, the Lady Rebels will be autographing the 2001 poster featuring the seniors.

OLE MISS 2001 MAGNOLIA INVITATIONAL - OXFORD, Miss.September 7 & 8
Friday, September 710:00 a.m.      Arkansas State vs. UT-Martin12:00 p.m.      Ole Miss vs. Samford2:30 p.m.       Southern Mississippi vs. UT-Martin5:00 p.m.       Samford vs. Arkansas State7:00 p.m.       Ole Miss vs. Southern Mississippi
Saturday, September 810:00 a.m.      Samford vs. Southern Mississippi12:00 p.m.      Ole Miss vs. UT-Martin2:30 p.m.       Southern Mississippi vs. Arkansas State5:00 p.m.       Samford vs. UT-Martin7:00 p.m.       Ole Miss vs. Arkansas State

Ole Miss matches in bold. All matches will be at the Gillom Sports Center on the University of Mississippi campus.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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