Rebel Volleyball Hopes To Hear Name Called On Selection Sunday

OXFORD, Miss. It’s been a season of firsts for the Ole Miss volleyball team, and the Rebels hope the season will have one more first added to that list when the NCAA Tournament field is unveiled on Sunday.

The 64 teams invited to participate in the 2006 NCAA Tournament will be announced at 2:30 p.m. on ESPNews and Ole Miss is hoping to hear its name called for the first time ever after posting a 19-12 record and a 10-10 mark in the SEC.

It’s the first winning season for the Rebels since 1996 and the 10 wins in conference play matches the school record set in 1979.

“It’s been an amazing season and this would be the perfect way to end the year,” said Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin. “We have accomplished many of our goals we set coming into this year, there is just one more that is on our list we hope to be able to scratch off after the announcements are made on Sunday.”

The Rebels astounded the Southeastern Conference this season as Ole Miss finished fifth in the league after being picked to finish 10^th in the preseason poll and last in the West. Ole Miss finished third in the SEC West.

Ole Miss sparked things early in the season, going on the road and taking the Nike/LaQuinta Invitational with a sweep of the tournament field, including a big 3-2 win over then 10-1 TCU. The Rebels received the first weekly honor from the SEC since 1997 when Tara Langley was named Defensive Player of the Week after posting a then career-high 24 digs against the Horned Frogs.

The Rebels entered conference play and in the second weekend posted a win over Kentucky, the second place team in the SEC East. The Rebels began to build confidence with each week and things could started falling into place as Ole Miss made moves up the standings.

The Rebels jump-started a critical run down the stretch with a big 3-0 sweep of Alabama in Oxford, the first win over the Crimson Tide in nearly a decade as the list of firsts began to grow. The Rebels followed that with a win over Memphis, one of the top teams in Conference-USA, and things really got rolling.

Ole Miss closed out the season with a 7-3 record in its final 10 matches of the season, including wins over South Carolina, Arkansas and 11^th-rnaked LSU. The win over South Carolina was the first over the Gamecocks since 1992 and completed a weekend sweep for of a pair of SEC teams by Ole Miss for the first time since 1989.

The Rebels then picked up a critical 3-2 win over Auburn behind a career-high 28 kills from Jaclyn Toohey as Ole Miss continued to roll toward its goal of an NCAA Tournament berth.

The winning continued for the Rebels as in the final weekend of play, Ole Miss took down perennial SEC power Arkansas 3-0 to complete the first ever season sweep of the Lady Backs and only the third win over Arkansas in Ole Miss’ 30-year history. The Rebels took the first meeting with the Lady Backs 3-2 in Fayetteville earlier in the season to pick up the program’s first-ever win at Arkansas.

The Rebels concluded the season in grand fashion with the 3-2 upset of the 11^th-ranked Tigers this past Sunday. It marked the first-ever win over a ranked team as Ole Miss picked up the win behind the play of Toohey as the senior earned SEC Player of the Week honors for the second time this season. Toohey was also named SEC Player of the Week two weeks earlier after leading the Rebels to the wins over South Carolina and Georgia.

It has all added up to a season of excitement around the Gillom Sports Center and Ole Miss volleyball has sparked excitement on campus and in the Oxford community. The Rebels hope that excitement continues to build when one more goal is crossed off the list of accomplishments with the Rebels invited to put on their glass dancing slippers and continue the remarkable season.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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