The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Travel To Face Kentucky, No. 19 Tennessee This Weekend
10/5/2011 | Volleyball
Oct. 5, 2011
OXFORD, Miss. - After a quick stop at home this past Sunday for a single match, the Rebel volleyball team returns to the road this weekend to continue a stretch of road matches with a pair of contests at Kentucky and No. 19 Tennessee.
Ole Miss (5-9, 1-5 SEC) will take on the Kentucky Wildcats on Friday night at 6 p.m. CT in the first of the two weekend matches. The Rebels will then travel to Knoxville to take on the 19th-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CT.
The two teams are the top two teams in the Southeastern Conference with Kentucky (14-3, 5-1 SEC) having dropped one match in conference play to preseason favorite Florida, while Tennessee (13-2, 6-0 SEC) has not lost a conference match and picked up a 3-2 win over Florida on the road two weekends ago.
"It doesn't get any easier for us this weekend," said Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin. "We're going to face a top 20 team in Tennessee and a 5-1 Kentucky team when you look at conference record. We're going to have to buckle down and get some things done this week."
Senior middle blocker Regina Thomas continues to set the pace for the Rebel offense this season, hitting at a team-leading .373 clip and she also leads the squad defensively at the net with 1.22 blocks per set. Those numbers aren't just the best on the team, however, they are also second in the Southeastern Conference for hitting and tops in the league for blocks.
Joining Thomas on the attack are junior right side hitter Allegra Wells, who leads the team with 144 kills this season, and sophomore outside hitter Kara Morgan. Morgan put down a career-high 15 kills against Mississippi State on Sunday and continues to emerge as an offensive threat for the Rebels.
Defensively on the back row, it's been senior libero Morgan Springer pacing the Rebels with 4.09 digs per set. That total is good for fourth best in the conference to date and continues the trend of Springer being one of the top defensive players in the SEC for her career.
Both matches can be followed live on the internet at www.OleMissSports.com.
