Rebels Set To Host Arkansas In Mid-Week Tilt

OXFORD, Miss. Ole Miss (8-10, 4-5 SEC) will return to action with a chance to move into a tie for the Western Division lead on Wednesday when the Rebels host Arkansas (5-14, 2-7 SEC) at the Gillom Sports Center at 7 p.m.

The match is a part of “3 Guys Pizza Night” with free pizza being given out to all fans in attendance at the beginning of the match.

“As we finish up the first half of the conference season, this team hasn’t reached its full stride because of injuries and inconsistencies,” said Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin. “If we can have a great week and get some players back from injury we can improve upon our record and position. We have shown that when we are playing well that we can play with people at the top of the league. We need to do that on a more consistent basis.”

The Rebels are coming off a tough weekend that saw Ole Miss drop a pair of matches at Tennessee and No. 23 Kentucky as the Wildcats rallied late to grab the win from the Rebels. Despite the losses, the Rebels can move within a game of first place with a victory on Wednesday.

Ole Miss will continue to look for strong performances out of its middles against the Razorbacks as freshman Regina Thomas and sophomore Miranda Kitts have been two of the most consistent performers over the past few weeks. Thomas leads the Rebel offense with 2.59 kills per set, while Kitts is averaging 1.81 kills per set. Both players were among the tops in kills against both Kentucky and Tennessee.

Senior libero Allison Weber continues to step it up for the Rebel defense as she set a new career-mark for digs for the third consecutive weekend. Weber came up with 25 digs against No. 23 Kentucky to pace the defensive efforts of the squad and will be looked to for continued leadership as the Rebels face off against the Razorbacks.

Arkansas enters the match coming off a pair of losses to Kentucky and Tennessee as well and has gone 1-7 since posting a win over Auburn in the first match of the conference season. The Razorbacks’ other win came over Mississippi State on October 12.

Outside hitter Kelli Stipanovich leads the Arkansas offense this season as she averages 3.19 kills per set and is hitting at a .197 clip on the season. She is joined by outside hitter Christina Johnson who puts down 2.98 kills per set and leads the team with a .291 attack percentage.

Middle blocker Yun Tang leads the net defense for the Razorbacks with a 1.19 block per set average. Phoebe Bautista leads the back row defense for Arkansas as the libero is posting 3.73 digs per set for the Razorbacks.

Wednesday’s match will close out the first half of the round robin schedule the Southeastern Conference adopted two years ago. The Rebels will then kick off the second half of the conference season with a home match against Auburn on Friday at 7:00 p.m.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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