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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
Georgia
Volleyball Travels To Georgia For Final Road Series
11/17/2022 | Volleyball
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OLE MISS (10-13, 7-7 SEC) at GEORGIA (18-7, 9-5 SEC) Nov. 18-19 • Athens, Ga. Stegeman Coliseum |
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| Ole Miss Notes (PDF) • Georgia Notes (PDF) • SEC Notes (PDF) |
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| Friday, Nov. 18 11 a.m. CT  |
Saturday, Nov. 19 2 p.m. CT |
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| Watch | Live Stats | Watch | Live Stats |
RALLY POINTS
• Ole Miss hits the road for the final time in the 2022 regular season, traveling to Athens for a weekend series with Georgia on Nov. 18 and 19.
• Samantha Schnitta has finished with double-figure kills in each of the past three matches. She's totaled 41 and is hitting at a .345 clip over that span.
• The Rebels are looking to bounce back after dropping their last two matches against Auburn and South Carolina.
• Setter Aly Borellis ranks eighth nationally among freshmen with 10.13 assists per set.
• 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 14 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 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 BULLDOGS
Georgia and head coach Tom Black boast a 18-7 record overall in 2022, including a 9-5 mark in conference play that ranks fourth in the SEC. The Bulldogs have been tough to beat in Athens on their home court, going 11-3. Kacie Evans leads the offense, averaging 4.07 kills per set. Georgia utilizes a pair of setters in Clara Brower and Alexa Fortin, who have the team hitting at a .243 clip. Bailey Cox and Sophie Fischer anchor the defense, tallying 3.53 digs per set and 1.51 blocks per set, respectively.
SERIES HISTORY
Georgia leads the all-time series against Ole Miss 48-23; however the Rebels have split each of the last 14 meetings, including last season in Oxford. Ole Miss is looking for its first win in Athens since 2016.
PREVIOUS MEETING
After a five-set battle on senior day, Ole Miss volleyball fell in a heartbreaker to Georgia 3-2 on Friday night in the Gillom Center. The Rebels came out hot, using an early 4-0 run to force Georgia to call a timeout. Ole Miss continued to hold the advantage and fended off a comeback attempt as Georgia cut the lead to one, but Thompson and Katie Corelli came up with two clutch kills down the stretch, helping the Rebels hang on and take set one, 25-23. Ole Miss and Georgia saw 12 ties and three lead changes in a hard-fought second set. However, the Dawgs pulled away at the end with a 3-1 run to win 25-23. The Rebels worked from behind the majority of set three but managed to pull even at 21 all. Once again, Georgia locked in for a late run to take the set 25-22.
With their back against the wall, Ole Miss used two big runs to get back in the contest. Down 10-5 early, Thompson gave the Rebels the spark they needed to climb back into the match, and a Ratliff block kicked off a 7-1 run to take the lead. Looking to complete the comeback, the Rebels went on a 5-0 run to win the set 25-19. Unfortunately, they ran out of steam in the fifth set, falling 15-10 as Georgia's Kacie Evans registered the Dawgs' final three kills.
HEATING UP
Junior and second generation Rebel, Samantha Schnitta, has burst onto the scene as of late for the Rebels. The lethal right-side has tallied double-digit kills in each of the last three matches, leading the attack. While putting up big offensive numbers, Schnitta is also doing it at an efficient rate, hitting .387 in November and averaging nearly 4.0 points per set when she's on the court.
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 10.13 assists per set. Outside hitter Vivian Miller has also come on strong as of late, averaging 2.51 kills per set on the year and finishing in double-figures in 10 matches, including a career-high 21 against Tennessee. Niesen rounds out the trio, having started all 24 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 sixth all-time in the rally scoring era with 279 total blocks and ninth in solo blocks with 53. A force at the net, Ratliff has 94 blocks on the season and is averaging 1.07 per set. 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 3.03 kills per set. A leader on the court, Bair has tallied double-digit kills in 61 matches, including 16 this season.
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.
Follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissVB, Facebook at Ole Miss Volleyball, and on Instagram at @olemissvb.
