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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Volleyball to Begin Spring Competition
4/6/2017 | Volleyball
OXFORD, Miss. - While football is gearing up for the annual Regions Bank Grove Bowl Saturday, the Ole Miss volleyball team is preparing for its first spring competition. The Rebels will travel to Franklin, Tennessee Saturday for the Alliance Tournament featuring 18 collegiate teams.
Ole Miss will begin the day with a match against East Tennessee State at 10:15 a.m., followed by Lipscomb University at 11:30 a.m. The Rebels will conclude the tournament against Murray State at 2 p.m.
"This weekend will be fun," head coach Steven McRoberts said. "We've been doing a lot more scrimmaging lately, which has that preseason type feel to it, so we are ready to see somebody else on the other side of the net."
One change from previous years under McRoberts, the team started its full spring practice schedule after spring break.
"We held off this spring not getting into our 20 hour weeks until after spring break, and I haven't done that in years. Typically, we would start a week or two before we started this year and then we ended about the middle of April. Now we're going through the end of April. We're going hard for five straight weeks and I've seen a little bit of a difference. I like the way we're doing things right now."
In addition to changes on the court, McRoberts and his staff have seen changes in the weight room as the Rebels put up 52 personal records.
"I think it's been our best spring yet as far as improvements players have made, team chemistry and team culture. Everything seems to be coming together with this group. They've put in the work in all those aspects. It's been a lot of fun to work with them every day, they bring 100 percent effort and such great attitudes."
Ole Miss welcomes back 10 players from the 2016 team including starters Lexi Thompson and Kate Gibson, who ranked among the top players in the SEC in kills and points per set.
Thompson led the SEC in double-doubles (21) and set the single-season kills record (437), while Gibson followed right behind with 427 kills.
"They're both having tremendous springs from a physicality and leadership standpoint," McRoberts said. "We're expecting big seasons out of them again. Just like last season they're probably going to be a focus on offense and defense, since they're both our six rotation outside hitter."
In 2016, the Rebels set a single-season record with 1,905 digs and ranked second in the SEC in digs per set (15.24). A big part of that was the play of Caroline Adams, who came into the role of libero last year and led the team with 376 digs. Starting the last 12 matches as the team's libero, Adams ranked among the conference leaders in digs per set (3.71).
"Caroline has picked up right where she left off," McRoberts said. "The way she's playing in the gym right now, she's in my opinion, one of the best libero's in the conference. That's a nice piece for us to have. We narrowly missed on leading the league in digs last season, and we believe with Caroline and Nicole (Purcell) that we'll be right there again."
One position that the Rebels have not had to worry about for the first three years under McRoberts, is setter. With Aubrey Edie set to graduate in May, the Rebels now look to sophomore Jordan Fate and incoming freshman Lauren Bars to compete for the position.
"Jordan's doing a great job running the show this spring and getting better every day. That's kind of been the theme of this spring is improvement, and we're seeing it with every single player. Jordan's starting to get more comfortable in the setter role after sitting for a season and watching Aubrey do it. It's one of those things that takes time to embrace and understand the difference in that role in high school versus that role at the SEC level."
Another position that is up for grabs this year is middle blocker, where mid-year transfer Delaney Gallagher is battling with returning middle blockers Nayo Warnell and Audrey Fischer.
"Delaney is learning and doing a good job competing with Nayo and Audrey," McRoberts said. "We're seeing out of her what we were hoping to see."
The Rebels will continue spring competition at Central Arkansas on April 23 and then conclude it at Tulane on April 29.
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.
