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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Missouri
Volleyball Welcomes Missouri To Town For Weekend Series
10/20/2022 | Volleyball
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OLE MISS (7-10, 3-4 SEC) vs. MISSOURI (8-9, 1-6 SEC) Oct. 21-22 • Oxford, Miss. Gillom Center |
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| Ole Miss Notes (PDF) • Missouri Notes (PDF) • SEC Notes (PDF) |
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| Friday, Oct. 21 7 p.m. CT  |
Saturday, Oct. 22 4 p.m. CT  |
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| Watch | Live Stats | Watch | Live Stats |
RALLY POINTS
• The Rebels return to Gillom, hosting a weekend series with Missouri on October 21 and 22.
• Freshman Cammy Niesen turned heads in the SEC, garnering weekly honors twice this season. She has tallied 18 or more digs in four of her last five matches.
• Outside hitter Vivian Miller was named SEC Freshman of the Week on October 10 after leading the Rebel attack with 4.13 kills per set on a .338 clip.
• Setter Aly Borellis ranks seventh nationally among freshmen with 9.94 assists per set.
• Senior Anna Bair has been one of the conference's top attackers in 2022, ranking 11th in the SEC with 3.58 kills per set.
• Bair picked up her 1,000th career kill on September 30, becoming the 15th Rebel in program history to accomplish the feat.
• Middle blocker Sasha Ratliff was one of 15 student-athletes named to the Preseason All-SEC Team. She earned all-conference honors last year after a breakout sophomore campaign.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Missouri comes into the weekend series fresh off its first SEC victory of the season, a 3-1 win over Auburn. Head coach Joshua Taylor and the Tigers boast an 8-9 record in 2022. Kaylee Cox and Anna Dixon lead the Mizzou offense, averaging 3.63 and 3.34 kills per set, respectively. As a team, the offense is hitting at a .227 clip, with setter Riley Buckley tallying 9.19 assists per set. Defensively, the Tigers are registering 14.9 digs per set, and middle blocker Trista Strasser paces the team with 77 total blocks on the season.
SERIES HISTORY
Missouri holds a slight advantage in the all-time series, with Ole Miss leading 13-8. Last season, the Rebels swept both meetings in Columbia, marking their first back-to-back sweeps in SEC play since 2011.
PREVIOUS MEETING
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Ole Miss took down the Tigers in three straight sets to record the program's first back-to-back sweeps in SEC play since 2011. The Rebels held Missouri to a .181 clip while racking up 47 kills. Anna Bair led the Rebels, recording her 15th match with double-digit kills this season.
Ole Miss and Missouri played a tight first set. Tied up at 19 all, a Lauren Thompson kill and Mizzou error gave the Rebels a slight edge. Ole Miss fended off the Tigers down the stretch to pick up a 25-22 set victory. Sasha Ratliff and the Rebel defense set the tone early in set two, building up an early 5-1 lead. Missouri clawed back to tie things up at 11, 14 and 18 until a late 4-0 run helped Ole Miss pull away for good and take the second set. The Rebel middles continued to show their strength in set three, as Sultemeier added her ninth kill to give Ole Miss an early lead. Both teams continued to go back and forth until a late 7-2 run gave Mizzou its first lead of the set at 18-16. Again, it was the middles who took control with three kills in a 3-2 run to cut the Tiger lead to one at 20-19. The Rebels managed to hold off the Mizzou attack as Bair and Ratliff came back to put the Tigers away, taking the set 25-23 and the match 3-0.
JUST GETTING STARTED
After leading the Ole Miss attack and registering career-high kills in both victories against Alabama, outside hitter Vivian Miller was named SEC Freshman of the Week on October 10. She paced the Rebels offensively against the Crimson Tide, averaging 4.13 kills per set on the weekend and hitting at a blistering .338 clip. The Jupiter, Florida, native tallied 15 kills in Friday's win and followed it up with an 18-kill performance while hitting at a career-best .485 clip. Miller also added a career-best 17 digs on Saturday for her second collegiate double-double.
ABSOLUTELY DIGGIN' IT
Following back-to-back 20-dig performances on the road, Ole Miss libero Cammy Niesen was named SEC Co-Freshman of the Week on October 3. She anchored the Rebel defense on the road in Baton Rouge, collecting a career-high 24 digs on Friday against LSU and followed it up with 20 digs the following night, helping lead Ole Miss to its first conference victory of the season. Niesen is one of six SEC student-athletes to record back-to-back 20-plus dig matches this season.
The following weekend against Alabama, Niesen continued to turn heads in the SEC, this time garnering Defensive Player of the Week honors. The Cincinnati, Ohio, product raised her game, averaging 5.25 digs per set and helped the Rebel defense hold Alabama to a mere .150 hitting percentage. On Friday, Niesen tallied a career-best 29 digs in the win, tied for the most in a four-set match by any SEC student-athlete this season and the most by a Rebel since 2018. She is one of only three freshmen in the conference this season and the first Rebel freshman since Anna Bair in 2019 to claim multiple SEC weekly awards.
ROLLING THE TIDE
Ole Miss broke out the brooms, sweeping the series with Alabama for its first two victories at home this season. The Rebels came out on top 3-1 on Friday after dropping the opening set. Four Rebels tallied double-digit kills, led by Katie Corelli and Vivian Miller, who finished with 15 each. Defensively, Ole Miss held Alabama to a mere .115 attacking percentage. The following day, the Rebels grabbed a 3-1 victory, nearly pulling off the sweep. Freshman Vivian Miller shined in the win, recording her second career double-double with 18 kills and 17 digs.
SHINING BRIGHT ON THE BIG STAGE
Although they are only three months into their collegiate volleyball career, Aly Borellis, Vivian Miller and Cammy Niesen have established themselves integral pieces of Ole Miss volleyball. Borellis has had a stellar start to her freshman campaign, ranking seventh nationally among freshmen at the setter position with 9.94 assists per set. Outside hitter Vivian Miller has also come on strong as of late, averaging 2.45 kills per set on the year and finishing in double-figures in seven of her last nine matches. Niesen rounds out the trio, having started all 17 matches at libero. She leads the team in digs and has tallied 10 or more 13 times, including four 20-plus dig performances.
👑 AB1K 👑
Senior Anna Bair has been a staple of the Ole Miss attack each of the past four seasons she's donned a Rebel uniform. On Friday, September 30, the strong-armed St. Louis native reached the 1,000 kill milestone against LSU, becoming the 15th Rebel in program history achieve the feat. In her career, Bair is hitting at a .222 clip in her career and averaging 3.04 kills per set. A leader on the court, Bair has tallied double-digit kills in 59 matches, including 14 this season.
BATTLE TESTED
Despite an tough 4-6 record in non-conference action, the Rebels gained valuable experience on the court that will prepare them for SEC play and a run in the NCAA Tournament. Ole Miss had one of the tougher opening weekends across the country, hosting #9 Georgia Tech and #17 Illinois for the Ole Miss Invitational. They came up just short of the Yellow Jackets, scoring 24 points or more in all four sets, and fell to Illinois in four sets. The uphill climb continued the following weekend at the Husker Invitational, where they battled with #2 Nebraska. The Rebels picked up their first two victories of 2022 at the Bobcat Invitational and followed it up with another 2-1 weekend at the Jaguar Invitational to round out the non-conference slate.
TEXAS TWO-STEP
The Rebels found their groove September 9 and 10 at the Bobcat Invitational in San Marcos, Texas. Ole Miss got back to winning ways, sweeping Sam Houston behind an efficient attack led by Anna Bair and Payton Brgoch. In the nightcap, the Rebs battled the host, Texas State, eating the Cats up in four sets. Bair and Sasha Ratliff each laid down 17 kills, while freshman setter Aly Borellis powered the offense to a .329 hitting percentage with a career-high 51 assists.
PUTTING THE LEAGUE ON NOTICE
Ole Miss junior middle blocker Sasha Ratliff was one of fifteen student-athletes selected to the 2022 Preseason Volleyball All-SEC Team. Ratliff established herself as one of the top middle-blockers in the SEC last season, earning an all-conference nod as well as AVCA All-Region honors. The Atlanta, Georgia, native paced the team with a school record 113 assisted blocks and was one shy of the single-season total block record with 129. Ratliff was also a top offensive contributor, ranking third in the conference and 28th nationally at a .385 hitting clip.
ROOKIES IN THE RANKINGS
The Rebels added top talent to their 2022 class with the addition of six signees, including multiple Prep Volleyball Top-150 honorees. Five of the six new Rebels received AVCA High School All-America honors their senior year, tied with Florida for the most in the nation.
Aly Borellis makes her way to Oxford as a four-year letterwinner at Notre Dame Preparatory and a member of the Prep Volleyball Top-150 list. A decorated setter out of Rochester, Michigan, Borellis has racked up multiple All-American honors in her high school career, including a pair of PrepVolleyball First Team honors, AAU All-American laurels and 2021 AVCA First Team All-American honors.
Middle blocker Tessa Jones joins the Rebels as a Prep Volleyball Top-150 recruit and 2021 AVCA Honorable Mention High School All-American. In her four-year career at Seton High School in Cleves, Ohio, Jones tallied 606 kills and racked up 144 total blocks.
Outside hitter Shayla Meyer closed out her high school career with over 1,700 kills. The Superior, Nebraska, native was named first team All-Conference three years in a row, found a spot on the C-2 Volleyball All-State first team in 2020 and 2021 AVCA Honorable Mention All-American honors.
Ready for her first season in a Rebel uniform, Vivian Miller comes to campus as a highly touted recruit out of Jupiter, Florida, being named to the Prep Volleyball Top-100, AVCA Phenom List, AVCA Best and Brightest First Team and 2021 AVCA Second Team All-American honors. At Jupiter High School, the outside hitter totaled 500 kills in 154 sets played.
Cammy Niesen, listed as a defensive specialist, hopes to make an impact for the Rebels at the libero position. The 2021 AVCA Second Team High School All-American graduated as the all-time dig leader at Roger Bacon High School, where she led the Miami Valley Conference in digs as a senior. Niesen was also named first team All-District, District Player of the Year and first team All-State in 2020.
Outside hitter Emma Schwieger caps off the freshmen talent. The Bishop Moore Catholic High School grad was tabbed as the No. 5 player and the No. 1 right side in Florida for the class of 2022 and was listed as one of Prep Volleyball's 2022 players to watch.
RATLIFF, WHITE AND BLUE
After establishing herself as one of the top middle-blockers in the SEC last season, Sasha Ratliff received an invitation to the Women's National Team Open Program in Colorado Springs, Colorado, this past February. The junior spent three days training with some of the top athletes in the nation as part of the selection process for the U.S. Women's National Team and the 2022 U.S. Women's Collegiate National Team.
NEW FACES TO THE BENCH
Back on the bench for year two with the Rebels is Brad Creamer; however, when Ole Miss takes the court this season, he'll have a new role with the program: assistant coach. This offseason, Creamer was elevated to assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Rebels after assisting them in one of the best seasons in program history. Also added to the staff this offseason was assistant coach Bre Henry, who makes her way to Oxford from Santa Clara University. During her time with the Broncos, Santa Clara produced three AVCA All-Region selections, 12 All-WCC accolades and 10 WCC all-academic nods. Prior to Santa Clara, Henry was a graduate assistant with one of the nation's elite programs at Nebraska alongside Banwarth. Rounding out the new faces is volunteer assistant Douglas Florencio, who just wrapped up his playing career at King University and University of Charleston.
Follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissVB, Facebook at Ole Miss Volleyball, and on Instagram at @olemissvb. You can also follow head coach Kayla Banwarth on Twitter @KaylaBanwarth2.
