Rebels To Host Alabama, Mississippi State

OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss volleyball team opens Southeastern Conference play this weekend with a pair of big matches against Western Division rivals when the Rebels (6-3) will host Alabama and Mississippi State at the Gillom Sports Center.

Ole Miss will host Alabama (8-2) at 7 p.m. on Friday night before facing off against in-state rival Mississippi State (8-2) at 1 p.m. in a match televised regionally by Cox Sports Television. Fans are asked to participate in a "White Out" that day and the first 200 fans will receive a free white Ole Miss volleyball t-shirt.

Admission to all matches is free. It will also be Alumni Weekend for the volleyball program and several past members of the Ole Miss volleyball team will be returning to campus for the weekend's matches and the football game against Vanderbilt on Saturday.

"We really will be focusing on what we do on our side of the net," Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin said of the weekend. "We feel we have the most dynamic middle blocker duo in the conference here at Ole Miss and will be looking to them on offense. It will be up to the other teams to stop them.

"We really have a good fan base here at the Gillom Center and have a comfort level playing here at home. We're also used to playing on television with five matches on television last season and more televised this year. We've renovated the Gillom Center in the off-season and are excited about getting even more fans in here to support us and showing off the facility."

Ole Miss enters the weekend coming off a sweep at the Magnolia Invitational last weekend as the Rebels went undefeated to claim the tournament title for the fourth straight season. On the way to the championship, the Rebels defeated defending C-USA champion Southern Miss, Louisiana and Samford.

The Rebels were led in the weekend event by several players who turned in dominant performances that keyed the Ole Miss wins. The home-standing Rebels will look for continued production out of those athletes to have success in the rugged SEC.

Regina Thomas led the way and was named to the All-Tournament team after hitting .412 for the weekend with 42 kills and 26 blocks for the three matches. The junior middle blocker currently ranks second in the SEC - and 28th nationally - in blocks per set as she averages 1.34 blocks per set. She tied a career-high with 11 blocks in the win over Southern Miss to open the tournament.

Junior libero Morgan Springer was also big for the Rebels as she came up with a career-high 37 digs against the Golden Eagles in the opening match of the Magnolia Invitational. Springer is also high in the national rankings, coming in 36th nationally in digs per set with 5.12 per frame. That total also puts her second in the league.

Senior middle Miranda Kitts and sophomore defensive specialist Ashley Veach were also named to the All-Tournament team at the Magnolia Invitational - Kitts earned MVP honors - for their roles in helping the Rebels rattle off three straight wins.

Kitts is second on the team in kills (90) and blocks (31) through nine matches this season and has been a key to Ole Miss' success. Veach came up with 18 digs and helped stabilize the Rebel defense in the second match of the tournament against Louisiana as Ole Miss rallied to claim the win.

Alabama enters the Friday night contest with a seven match winning streak and is coming off back-to-back tournament titles at the Bama Bash and the CenturyLink Premier at Texas State.

The Crimson Tide is led offensively by Kayla Fitterer and Alyssa Meuth with 113 and 111 kills, respectively. Meuth also is combining with Cali Johnson to lead the net defense of the Tide as Meuth has put down 20 blocks and Johnson has added 28 blocks this season.

The back row defense of Alabama is paced by Kelsey Anderson who has come up with 167 digs on the year and averages 4.91 digs per set this season.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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