Volleyball Hits the Road to Face Rival Mississippi State

			OLE MISS (0-10, 0-10) at MISSISSIPPI STATE (2-8, 2-8) Thursday-Friday, Feb. 11-12 • 12 p.m. Starkville, Miss. • Newell-Grissom Building
WATCH • LIVE STATS • OLE MISS NOTES • MISSISSIPPI STATE NOTES

RALLY POINTS

Leading Ole Miss on the court this season are captains senior Bayleigh Scott and junior Aubrey Sultemeier.
GG Carvacho concluded the fall slate with her best performance of the season in the series against Missouri, totaling 30 kills over two matches to become the program's sixth SEC Freshman of the Week.
In the second match against the Crimson Tide, Anna Bair hit for a team high 21 kills, the most by a Rebel in a match this season and one shy of her career high.
Sultemeier, who holds the record for most solo rejections ever by a freshman at Ole Miss with 30, is at a career total of 205 total blocks and needs just 29 to crack the rally scoring Top 10.
In her debut in an Ole Miss uniform, freshman right side Samantha Schnitta tallied a total of 10 kills and 12 digs for the first double-double of the season against the Aggies. She is the first freshman Rebel to record a double-double in a season opening match in the past 10 seasons. Schnitta added two more double-doubles in the series against Alabama totaling 28 kills and 25 digs over two matches.
After missing the fall due to injury, freshman middle blocker Sasha Ratliff has made an immediate impact at the net through her first four matches. The Atlanta native recorded nine total blocks off of two solos and seven block assists in the second match against Alabama, the most by a Rebel in a single match this season.
Ole Miss hits the road for the first time this spring with a trip down the road to Starkville to face Mississippi State. The Rebels conclude their home schedule against Tennessee, before leaving the state for the final four weeks of the season.

MATCH MAKEUP

Last Meeting: 10/4/19 in Starkville (Ole Miss 3, MSU 2)
Last Win: 2019 (Ole Miss 3, Mississippi State 2)
All-Time Series: 73-26 (First Meeting, 1976)

ON THE HORIZON
Junior Aubrey Sultemeier needs 29 blocks to enter the Top 10 for total blocks in the rally scoring era.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Mississippi State is 2-8 on the season and coming off of two straight losses at South Carolina. The Bulldogs forced five sets against the Gamecocks on Friday after winning sets three and four but were ultimately unable to take the match. The Bulldogs two wins of the season came against Texas A&M during the fall with 3-2 and 3-1 wins over the Aggies.

Offensively Gabby Waden leads the Bulldogs averaging 3.68 kills per set alongside Logan Brown with 2.69 kills per set. At the net, Jessica Kemp is averaging .93 blocks per set, with 38 total on the year.

ALL TIME VS. MISSISSIPPI STATE
Ole Miss holds a 73-26 advantage over their in-state rivals in a series that dates back to 1976. The Rebels claimed the last victory of the series in a 3-2 win over the Bulldogs in Starkville, and have taken four straight from MSU.

CAREER NUMBERS AGAINST THE BULLDOGS
Bair                5 sets   9 kills   2 digs
Bugg              9 sets   4 aces 14 digs
Scott              13 sets   27 kills   12 blocks
Sultemeier 4 sets   4 kills 2 blocks
Thompson 5 sets   2 kills 7 digs

LAST TIME OUT
The Rebels battled in two-five set matches against the Crimson Tide, yet were unable to secure a win going 0-2 on the weekend. Samantha Schnitta recorded two straight double-doubles against Alabama with a total of 28 kills and 25 digs over two matches. Sasha Ratliff was a force at the net for the Rebels, totaling 14 blocks in the series.

FIERCE FRESHMEN
Two freshmen Rebels lead the squad in three of the five major statistical categoires. Samantha Schnitta paces the team with 64 kills and 15 service aces, while Sasha Ratliff has shown prowess at the net tied for a team-high 18 total blocks.

TRENDING UP
In the series against Alabama, Ole Miss hit for a season high percentage .212 on Friday and then bested this mark Saturday at .313. This marked the first time the Rebels had hit for over .300 in a match since September of 2019.

VERSUS RANKED FOES
The last time the Rebels took down a ranked team was on the road last season at No. 22 Missouri in a 3-1 victory. Anna Bair picked up eight kills in the win over the Tigers on Oct. 9 of 2019.

STIFF COMPETITION
The series against Florida marked the Rebels fifth and sixth matches against top-15 opponents ranked in the AVCA poll, the most in a single-season dating back to 2003.

FRESHMAN PHENOM
A stellar performance from GG Carvacho against Mizzou, led to the freshman claiming the Rebels first conference honors of the season as the SEC Freshman of the Week. Carvacho totaled 30 kills over two matches, hitting at a .279 clip. She is the ninth freshman since 2001 to tally 20 or more kills in a match.

SWITCHING IT UP
Ole Miss came out with a different look in each of their six fall matches. Middle blocker Aubrey Sultemeier and right side Samantha Schnitta are the only Rebels to have started in every match. This trend continued through the Florida series, before the starting seven remained consistent through two matches against Alabama.

NEW REBELS ON THE BLOCK
Banwarth announced her inagural signing class on the 11th, with three new Rebels to join the squad next fall. Defensive specialists Bria Samilton and Bailee Middleton will look to assist the squad in the back row, while Under Armour All-American Honorable Mention honoree Julia Dyess will provide power on the outside.

REBELS SLOTTED 10TH IN SEC PRESEASON POLL
After finishing last season in ninth in the SEC with a record of 6-2, Ole Miss was chosen to finish 10th in the first year under Banwarth. Three of the Rebels four opponents this fall season were chosen to finish within the top-five of the conference.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK PROPS
After claiming just two awards total the previous two seasons, the 2019 Rebels set a program milestone, garnering six weekly awards from the SEC. Current Rebel Anna Bair won Freshman of the Week on back-to-back weeks, becoming the first ever player at Ole Miss to win a weekly award consecutively. Junior Aubrey Sultemeier also took home an award, winning Defensive Player of the Week.

NEW FACES TO THE COACHING STAFF
The Rebels offseason saw a shift in leadership, as Ole Miss hired Nebraska assistant Kayla Banwarth to take the helm.

Banwarth, a first-time head coach, arrived in Oxford after a storied career both at Nebraska and with the U.S. Women's National Team. Banwarth is an eight-time medalist with Team USA, including a bronze medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and has appeared in the NCAA Tournament seven times in her career (four times as a player, three times as a coach).

Banwarth completed her inaugural staff with fellow Nebraska staffer Beau Lawler and former Oregon standout Maggie Scott. Lawler served as the video coordinator in Lincoln, while Scott was a first-year assistant at La Salle University in Philadelphia.

UP NEXT
Ole Miss returns to the Gillom Center next Thursday-Friday Feb. 18-19 for their final home series of the season against Tennessee. Both matches will air on SEC Network + at 2 p.m. CT.

RebelsCalendar

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Anna Bair

GG Carvacho

Sasha Ratliff

Samantha Schnitta

Bayleigh Scott

Aubrey Sultemeier

The University of Mississippi Athletics