Rebels Hit Road To Face Georgia, Auburn This Weekend

Sept. 21, 2011

OXFORD, Miss. - After spending the last two weeks at home, the Ole Miss volleyball team takes to the road this weekend for a pair of contests at Georgia and Auburn as the Rebels continue Southeastern Conference play.

Fresh off a split in the opening weekend that saw Ole Miss (5-5, 1-1 SEC) fall to LSU before taking down Arkansas, the Rebels will play five of the next six matches on the road, beginning with this weekend's contests against the Bulldogs and Tigers.

"We're going to be going on the road and facing two teams with new head coaches in Georgia and Auburn," said Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin. "I expect both teams to be scrappy and two have two hard-fought matches. We swept both of these teams last year, but I like how our team is playing right now going into our first conference road trip."

Ole Miss is coming off a week that saw Regina Thomas hit .436 and put down 12 kills, including a season-high 15 kill performance and .560 hitting percentage against the Arkansas Razorbacks in Sunday's 3-2 win. The Rebels also continue to get solid production out of junior right side hitter Allegra Wells, who put down 11 kills and hit .400 against the Razorbacks.

Defensively, Morgan Springer and Ashley Veach had solid weekends for the Rebels in the opening matches of conference play, with Veach coming up with 26 kills and Springer adding 24 kills on the weekend.

Courtney Cunningham also made an impact defensively this past weekend, averaging over a block a set against LSU and Arkansas.

On Friday night at 6 p.m. CT, the Rebels will face a Georgia team who is 4-8 on the year and coming off a pair of losses last weekend at Tennessee and Kentucky. The Bulldogs are led offensively by outside hitter Brittany Northcutt with 3.02 kills per set this season. Middle blocker Ann Dylla is averaging 1.57 kills per set and a block per set through the first 12 games of the season to help the Georgia offense and net defense.

Kathleen Gates directs the Bulldog offense, averaging almost 11 assists per set this season, while Allison Summers is leading the back row defense with 3.71 digs per set.

The Rebels will then travel to face a 6-6 Auburn team at 1:30 p.m. that is also coming off a weekend that saw a pair of losses on the road to Tennessee and Kentucky.

Outside hitter Kelly Fidero leads the Auburn offense with 2.63 kills per set and is hitting at a .243 clip on the season. She is joined on the attack by outside hitter Sarah Bullock who is putting down 2.45 kills per set through 12 matches.

Chelsea Wintzinger and Christina Solverson split time at setter for Auburn, averaging 5.56 and 4.24 assists per set, respectively. Three players balance the back row defense for Auburn with more than two digs per set each this season.

All matches can be followed live via Gametracker at www.OleMissSports.com this weekend.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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