The University of Mississippi Athletics
Final Home Weekend Features Georgia, LSU; Sunday On FSN
11/20/2008 | Volleyball
OXFORD, Miss. The Rebel volleyball team will close out the home portion of its season this weekend when Ole Miss (12-14, 8-9 SEC) will host a pair of matches against Georgia and LSU.
The Rebels will take on Georgia at 7 p.m. on Friday. Sunday's match against LSU, which is also senior day, will be televised by Fox Sports Net at 2 p.m. Both matches will be played at the Gillom Sports Center on campus.
"We're excited to be playing at home at the Gillom Center," said Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin. "We definitely feel more comfortable when we play at home and put out a different level of excitement. That will be big for us this weekend as we take on Georgia and have a big television match against LSU on Sunday."
The Rebels enter the contests coming off a split of Alabama and Mississippi State last weekend. Freshman outside hitter Katie Norris led the Rebels in both matches, marking the fourth straight match that she has led the team in kills starting with a career-high 22 kills in a 3-2 win over No. 19 Kentucky two weeks ago.
The Rebels also hope to continue to get solid matches defensively out of senior libero Allison Weber and freshman defensive specialist Morgan Springer. Weber needs only seven digs to hit the 1,000 mark for digs in her career. Springer is currently second on the team in digs behind the senior libero and has been playing well for the Rebels.
The Bulldogs of Georgia enter Friday night's contest coming off a 3-1 win over Auburn last weekend.
Georgia is led by senior outside hitter Maria Taylor as the big hitter averages 3.62 kills per set and also comes up defensively for the Bulldogs with 2.24 digs per set. She is also a solid player defensively at the net with 0.57 blocks per set.
The back row defense of the Bulldogs is led by Erika Clark, as the libero averages a team-leading 3.23 digs per set. The net defense of Georgia is led by Valentina Gonzalez and Ann Dylla who average 0.99 and 0.98 blocks per set, respectively.
Ole Miss and Georgia have faced off a total of 44 times with the Bulldogs holding a 34-10 lead in the all-time series. Ole Miss picked up the win in the first meeting this season 3-0 in Athens. With the win, the Rebels have now won two straight in the series and four of the last five matches.
LSU comes into the weekend holding down the top spot in the Western Division and will face the Arkansas Razorbacks on Friday. The Tigers are coming off a 3-2 win over Auburn last weekend and are riding a three match win streak.
Kyna Washington leads the LSU Tiger attack as the outside hitter averages 2.92 kills per set. She is joined by middle blocker Britnee Cooper who scores for the Tigers on the attack and defensively with 2.84 kills per set and 1.21 blocks per set.
Elena Martinez continues to pace the Tiger defense as the senior libero averages 4.70 digs per set.
Ole Miss and LSU have faced off 56 times with the Tigers holding a 42-14 lead in the all-time series with the Rebels. LSU picked up a 3-0 win over Ole Miss in the first meeting this season down in Baton Rouge and have won three straight in the series.
