The University of Mississippi Athletics
Volleyball To Take On Arkansas/LSU This Weekend
10/29/2003 | Volleyball
Oct. 29, 2003
OXFORD, Miss. -
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The Ole Miss volleyball team concludes a five-match road swing this weekend with matches at Arkansas and LSU. The Lady Rebels will face the Lady Razorbacks Friday at 7:00 p.m. at Barnhill Arena, before traveling to Baton Rouge for a 1:30 p.m. start on Sunday with the Tigers.
Ole Miss (5-20, 3-7) recorded a split last weekend, defeating Auburn 3-2 and then falling to Alabama 3-1. Junior Elena Garcia posted a career-high 23 kills in the win over Auburn, including her 800th career kill in the second game of the match. She needs nine kills to reach 300 for the season and nine digs to post her 800th in that category. Sophomore middle blocker Rachel Refenes needs two blocks to record 100 total blocks for the second year in a row.
Arkansas enters the weekend with a 17-4 overall record, 10-0 in the SEC. They are coming off a 3-0 win over Tennessee last weekend. The Lady Razorbacks have won 12 in a row and 16 of their last 17 dating back to Sept. 5. Sara Kincaid leads the Lady'Backs with 357 kills (4.35 per game) and is among the league leaders. She also ranks among the conference leaders in blocks per game with 1.43. Arkansas is averaging 15.07 kills per game and 13.51 digs per game. They also average 2.81 blocks per game.
The Lady Razorbacks own a 19-1 record in the all-time series. Ole Miss' only win in the series came in 1996, when they edged the Lady'Backs 3-2 in Oxford. Arkansas won this year's first meeting in Oxford, 3-0 (30-18, 30-27, 30-26).
LSU comes into the weekend with a 10-13 overall record, 5-5 in the SEC. They are coming off a 3-1 win over Tennessee. The Tigers are led by junior outside hitter Regan Hood, who boasts 381 kills (4.38 per game). She was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Week after tallying 3.29 digs per game for the week. Hood also leads her team in block solos for the season and ranks second in blocks per game, block assists and total blocks. LSU is averaging 14.60 kills per game and 13.38 digs per game.
The Tigers lead the all-time series 34-11. Ole Miss snapped LSU's four-match win streak in the series with a thrilling come from behind 3-2 win over the Tigers in Oxford earlier this season. The last time the Lady Rebels won in Baton Rouge came during the 1998 season, when they beat the Tigers 3-2.