The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Hits Road For South Alabama Tournament
9/15/2005 | Volleyball
Sept. 14, 2005
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss (6-3) will hit the road for the second time this season, traveling to Mobile, Ala., over the weekend for three matches in the South Alabama Tournament at the University of South Alabama.
The Rebels will face-off with North Florida at 4 p.m. Friday before taking on Southern Miss and South Alabama on Saturday.
"We're excited about the opportunity to go back on the road and play some quality teams as we head down the stretch before conference play," said head coach Joe Getzin. "We have some good things to build on off of playing the last five matches at home. We're getting good performances from several people and this is a chance for us to continue to find that consistency and intensity we need for play in the Southeastern Conference."
Ole Miss has a selection of weapons to use on offense, led by senior Nikki Hill, who is second in the Southeastern Conference in kills per game at 4.61 kills per game and is averaging 16 kills a match for the Rebels. She is backed up by Jaclyn Toohey, who is averaging 10 kills a match.
Ashleigh Shear sets the Rebel offense with 406 assists on the year, while the defense is led by a pair of freshmen in Nicole Mahan and Emily Jones. Mahan leads the team in digs with 88, while Jones leads the team in blocks with 30 on the season from her middle blocker position.
North Florida enters the season making the transition to the Division I level and looking to make its mark in the volleyball world.
The Lady Ospreys fell to Winthrop and Furman in the last outing at the Winthrop Invitational.
Emily Kohler leads the attack for the Ospreys as she is the only player for UNF to break the 100 kill mark on the season with 102 total kills. She is also averaging a team-best 3.29 kills per game. Kohler is pacing the offense behind the setting of Heather Kendrick, who leads the way with 338 assists on the season.
Kelly Kazmierczak has been setting the tone for UNF defensively as she has come up with 110 digs on the year, while Kohler is also getting it done at the net with a team-high 21 blocks through nine matches.
Southern Miss is coming off a second-place finish at the WIU Pizza Hut Invitational that saw the Golden Eagles defeating Murray State and Western Illinois, but falling to Indiana-Purdue University - Fort Wayne. Morgan Johnson and Ednali Serralta were named to the All-Tournament team.
Amber Bloom leads the Golden Eagle attack, averaging 3.41 kills per game and 51 total for the season. She is joined by Johnson and Ashley Petrinec with 45 and 43 kills on the season each.
Serralta sets the offense for the Golden Eagles as the primary setter with 189 assists on the season to date. She averages 12 assists per game.
The Golden Eagles are not a big force at the net through four matches with only three players in double-digits in blocks, led by Johnson (15), Petrinec (14) and Jassmien Stephens (11).
The Jaguars of South Alabama play host to the weekend tournament, and enter with an overall record of 4-5 after dropping their last match to Charleston Southern.
Via Filipe and Jenna Swilley lead USA offense this season with Filipe tallying a team-high 120 kills, while Swilley has posted 111 kills and leads the team with a .264 attack percentage.
Katie Wilhelm and Jade Nuss split time at setter, with Wilhelm getting a majority of the sets as she leads the squad with 248 to Nuss' 143 assists.
Defensively, the Jaguars are paced by Shannon VanAntwerp with 103 digs. At the net, the defense is led by Swilley and Summer Pilgrim, who total 33 and 37 blocks, respectively.
