The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Close Out Road Schedule At Mississippi State
11/17/2011 | Volleyball
Nov. 17, 2011
OXFORD, Miss. - The Ole Miss volleyball team will take to the road for the final time this season with a road matchup at Mississippi State on Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Newell-Grissom Building on campus at Mississippi State University.
It's the only match of the week for Ole Miss which has two matches left on the schedule for the 2011 season. The Rebels will play the final contest of the season at home against Alabama on Friday, November 25, at 7 p.m.
Ole Miss is coming off a pair of hard-fought contests against top-20 foes last week, falling to both No. 15 Tennessee and No. 18 Kentucky by scores of 3-2 and dropping each match by two points in the fifth set. Despite the losses, the Rebels played well in both outings with balanced attacks that saw three players tally double-doubles in both matches and multiple players record double-digit kills in each match.
Senior middle blocker Regina Thomas is a big part of the Rebel offense, leading the Southeastern Conference in hitting percentage (.380) and blocks with 1.10 blocks per set this season. Joining her on the attack is junior right side hitter Allegra Wells, who leads the team in total kills this season with 267 and averages 2.62 kills per set.
Also producing as a big part of the Rebel offense this season has been sophomore outside hitter Kara Morgan, who averages 2.37 kills per set and has put down 242 kills to date this season.
The defensive efforts of the Rebels is led by senior libero Mogran Springer, who is currently fourth in the SEC in digs with 3.81 digs per set and is the all-time dig leader at Ole Miss with 1,590 digs for her career - serving in only her third year as the primary starting libero for the Rebels.
The Rebels are looking to even the season series with the Bulldogs after dropping the first meeting between the two teams 3-2 in Oxford back at the beginning of October. That match was televised nationally by ESPN and saw Ole Miss fall by three in the fifth set to their in-state rivals.
Morgan and Thomas led the Rebels in that contest, putting down 15 and 10 kills each with both players hitting .325 or better for the match. Morgan also added eight digs, while Thomas put down five blocks in the match. Defensively, Springer led three Rebels with double-digit digs as she came up with 26 for the match.
Ole Miss leads the overall series with Mississippi State 50-22 dating back to the 1976 season.
