Volleyball Returns To Gillom For Matchup With Auburn

			OLE MISS (11-12, 7-6 SEC) vs. AUBURN (20-5, 9-5 SEC) Friday, Nov. 11 • 5 p.m. CT • Oxford, Miss. Gillom Center
WATCH • LIVE STATS OLE MISS NOTES (PDF) • AUBURN NOTES (PDF) • SEC NOTES (PDF)

RALLY POINTS
• Ole Miss welcomes Auburn to Oxford for a Friday night tilt in Gillom.
• Samantha Schnitta tallied a season-high 15 kills in back-to-back matches at South Carolina last weekend as Ole Miss split the series.
• The Rebels are 7-3 in their last 10 matches. They sit sixth in the SEC at 7-6 on the year.
• Setter Aly Borellis ranks eighth nationally among freshmen with 10.15 assists per set.
• Last time she played in Gillom, freshman Vivian Miller had a career night, tallying 21 kills.
• The Rebels' middle blocker duo of Payton Brgoch and Sasha Ratliff ranks as one of the conference's best. Both rank inside the top five in hitting percentage and top 15 in blocks per set.
• Freshmen Aly Borellis, Cammy Niesen and Vivian Miller have turned heads in the SEC, garnering a combined four weekly honors this season.
• Senior Anna Bair picked up her 1,000th career kill on September 30, becoming just 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.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS
Having one of the best seasons in program history, Auburn and coach Brent Crouch head to Oxford with a 20-5 record on the season. The Tigers are 9-5 in conference play and are coming off a series sweep of Texas A&M at home. Freshman Akasha Anderson leads the Auburn offense, piling up 369 kills, the third-most in the SEC. Setter Jackie Barrett has the Tigers hitting at a .255 clip as a team, feeding them with 10.32 assists per set. Defensively, freshman Kendal Kemp leads the team with 135 total blocks on the season, ranking ninth in the country and first among freshmen. Auburn also ranks second in the SEC and 33rd nationally with 243.0 total blocks this season.

SERIES HISTORY
Ole Miss leads the all-time series with Auburn 37-30 and has won each of the previous two meetings. In the last 10 years, all but two matches have been at least four sets.

PREVIOUS MEETING
AUBURN, Ala. — Ole Miss kicked off SEC play with a 3-1 win on The Plains against Auburn.

Auburn came out hot, quickly opening up a 9-3 lead on the Rebels. The Tigers continued to increase the lead to 12 as Ole Miss tried to battle back. The Rebels staved off five straight set points but dropped the opening set 25-20. They continued into the second set with the same fire from the end of the first, jumping out to an early 5-1 lead. Auburn tied things up at 13-all, but Ole Miss took control with a late 3-0 run before claiming set two 25-19 to even it 1-1.

Momentum from the second set carried into the third for the Rebs as an 8-2 run put Ole Miss up 13-4. The Rebels maintained control the rest of the way and picked up the set, 25-19. Ole Miss kept its composure, building a four-point lead in the fourth set. It held onto the cushion and closed out the set and match with a 25-18 set victory.

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 as integral pieces of Ole Miss volleyball. Borellis has had a stellar start to her freshman campaign, ranking eighth nationally among freshmen at the setter position with 10.15 assists per set. Outside hitter Vivian Miller has also come on strong as of late, averaging 2.46 kills per set on the year and finishing in double-figures in nine matches, including a career-high 21 against Tennessee. Niesen rounds out the trio, having started all 23 matches at libero. She leads the team in digs and has tallied 10 or more in all but five contests.

FAMILY AFFAIR
Blocking runs in the Ratliff family. In less than three years, Ole Miss junior Sasha Ratliff has quickly climbed into the top 10 in the record books, ranking tied for sixth all-time in the rally scoring era with 275 total blocks. The Rebel middle blocker's father, Theo Ratliff, was a shot blocker too, ranking 20th in NBA history, with nearly 2,000 blocks in his 16 year career.

ALL-OUT ALY
After guiding Ole Miss to a rivalry win against Mississippi State, setter Aly Borellis was named SEC Co-Freshman of the Week. Borellis averaged 13.00 assists per set to help Ole Miss pick up its third straight conference victory. The Rochester, Michigan, native tallied 52 assists in the win, the most by an SEC student-athlete in a four-set match this season. She also contributed on offense adding six kills on 11 total attempts for a .455 attacking percentage while digging seven attacks and registering a block.

WE RUN THE SIP
In enemy territory, the Rebels came out and dominated their in-state rivals in Mississippi State 3-1 in the Magnolia State Showdown. The middle blockers, Sasha Ratliff and Payton Brgoch, took over the match, combining for 30 kills and 14 blocks. They were two of four Rebels to finish with double-figure kills, joined by Katie Corelli and Julia Dyess. Dyess also recorded 14 digs, tallying her first career double-double in the victory. Freshman Aly Borellis navigated the offense to a .268 hitting percentage behind 52 assists, one shy of her career high. Defensively, Cammy Niesen, Maggie Miller and Dyess were flying around the court, all registering 10-plus digs.

TAMING THE TIGERS
The Rebels got back on track, winning both matches in the weekend series with Missouri. Ole Miss broke out the brooms Friday night, sweeping the Tigers while hitting at a .314 clip, its fourth-best mark of the season. The following afternoon, Ole Miss pulled off a come-from-behind win, overcoming a seven-point deficit in the fourth set and winning the fifth set to stun Missouri. The middle blockers in Sasha Ratliff and Payton Brgoch led the Rebels all weekend long, combining for 55 kills on a .506 attacking percentage.

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 five 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.

👑 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 to achieve the feat. In her career, Bair is hitting at a .225 clip and averaging 3.04 kills per set. A leader on the court, Bair has tallied double-digit kills in 61 matches, including 16 this season.

Follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissVB, Facebook at Ole Miss Volleyball, and on Instagram at @olemissvb.

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