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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Season Two of the McRoberts Era Begins Friday
8/26/2015 | Volleyball
Tournament Central
OXFORD, Miss. -- One of the Ole Miss volleyball team's goals this year is to make the NCAA Tournament. The quest begins in earnest this weekend, as the Rebels kick off the 2015 season with the Magnolia Invitational.
The Rebels will be joined by Northwestern State, Oral Roberts and Tennessee State for the two-day invitational.
Ole Miss begins tournament action Friday at 6 p.m. against Oral Roberts. They will face Tennessee State Saturday at 12 p.m., and conclude the tournament Saturday at 7:30 p.m. versus Northwestern State.
All three of Ole Miss' matches will be broadcast live on SEC Network + via WatchESPN.
Ole Miss vs. Oral Roberts
Ole Miss vs. Tennessee State
Ole Miss vs. Northwestern State
PROMOTIONS
The first 200 fans at Friday's match will receive a HottyToddy T-shirt and everyone will get a Nakeyta Clair poster. Saturday's first match will feature the Newcomers Club and Rebel Kids Club party as well as Melanie Crow poster giveaway. The nightcap will feature the Lexi Thompson poster giveaway.
QUICK HITS
- Head coach Steven McRoberts boasts a 496-173 record (.741) in 18 seasons as a head coach.
- The Rebels return eight letterwinners âˆ' including six starters âˆ' and welcome seven newcomers for the 2015 season.
- Ole Miss returns the top three leaders in kills from a year ago, in senior Nakeyta Clair, junior Melanie Crow and sophomore Lexi Thompson. Clair set the single season record for kills in 2014 with 366, on her way to earning AVCA All-America Honorable Mention honors as well as AVCA All-Region and All-SEC honors. Crow posted the second most kills in a season (352) and also set the single season record for aces with 42. Thompson achieved the most kills by a freshman in school history and ranked third overall on the team with 323 kills.
- The "quarterback" of the offense, Aubrey Edie returns after a record setting year in 2014. She set the single season record for assists with 1,322 and ranked third in the SEC with 11.30 assists per set. She was named to the AVCA All-Region team.
- Nakeyta Clair and Melanie Crow spent 10 days this summer competing with some of the best collegiate volleyball players as part of the USA Volleyball Collegiate National Team.
SCOUTING ORAL ROBERTS
Oral Roberts was picked to finish fourth in the Summit League this season. The Golden Eagles posted a 15-15 record last year. They return six starters, including sophomore outside hitter Laura Milos, who averaged 4.37 kills per set in 2014. ORU also returns both middles and its setter.
A LOOK AT TENNESSEE STATE
Tennessee State returns eight players from last year's team who finished the season with a 10-21 overall record. The Tigers are led by senior middle blocker Haley Hampton who averaged 2.44 kills and 0.54 blocks per set.
ABOUT NORTHWESTERN STATE
Northwestern State won the Southland Conference Tournament Championship in 2014 to earn the league's automatic NCAA bid. They finished the season 16-17. The Lady Demons are led by preseason second-team All-Southland Conference selection Caiti O'Connell, who averaged 2.21 kills per set last year as an outside hitter. Senior middle blocker Glynna Johnson, another preseason second-team All-Southland selection, already owns the school's career block assist record (324) and owns the top two single-season marks in the same category, including 137 a season ago.
500 WATCH
Head coach Steven McRoberts came into his first year at Ole Miss with an impressive record and he added to it with the Rebels posting a 22-10 record in 2014. The Rebel mentor has 496 wins to his credit and needs just four to reach 500 for his career. McRoberts enters the 2015 season ranked 25th in the NCAA in wins (496-173) and 13th in winning percentage (.741).
For more information on Ole Miss Volleyball, follow the Rebels on Twitter, @OleMissVB, on Facebook at OleMissVolleyball and on Instagram at OleMissVB. Also follow Coach McRoberts on Twitter, @CoachMcRoberts.
