Volleyball Welcomes Eight Newcomers As Fall Camp Begins

OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss Volleyball team welcomed its most heralded and one of the largest recruiting classes to campus this week when fall camp opened on Tuesday.

Eight new faces joined eight returning players as the Rebels welcomed the 23rd-ranked recruiting class in the nation to campus for the beginning of fall camp. Ole Miss hopes the addition of the highly-touted freshmen to the nucleus of returning veterans will translate into a third trip in four years to the NCAA Tournament after missing out a year ago.

"Certainly today is one that we have waited for with anticipation," said Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin. "It's nice to get back out on the court with the athletes and see where we are heading into this season. The players are in excellent shape and have put in a lot of hard work in the off-season. Now it's time to get to work preparing for competition in the Southeastern Conference."

Returning for the 2009 season is lone senior Caitlin Weiss at right-side hitter, along with a trio of juniors and four sophomores. The sophomore class features All-Freshman selection Regina Thomas at middle blocker and Katie Norris at outside hitter. Norris led the team in kills per set a year ago at 3.03 and total kills with 321.

Joining the veterans are a class of eight freshman that includes three players ranked among the top 100 seniors last season (Whitney Craven, Courtney Cunningham and Allegra Wells) and a high school All-America selection (Ashley Veach).

Ole Miss will continue work in fall camp before opening the 2009 season at the Missouri Invitational on campus at the University of Missouri on Friday, Aug. 28. The Rebels will face Texas State in the first match of the season.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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