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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss
LSU
Volleyball Heads To Baton Rouge For Weekend Series Against LSU
9/29/2022 | Volleyball
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OLE MISS (4-8, 0-2 SEC) at LSU (8-5, 2-1 SEC) Friday, Sept. 30 & Saturday, Oct. 1 • Baton Rouge, La. Maravich Center |
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| Ole Miss Notes (PDF) • LSU Notes (PDF) • SEC Notes (PDF) |
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| Friday, Sept. 30 7 p.m. CT  |
Saturday, Oct. 1 6 p.m. CT  |
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| Watch | Live Stats | Watch | Live Stats |
RALLY POINTS
• SEC play continues on the road as Ole Miss volleyball treks to Baton Rouge for a pair of matches against LSU on September 30 and October 1.
• The Rebels have had a tough start to conference play, dropping a five-set heartbreaker to Texas A&M and falling to #20 Arkansas on the road.
• Head coach Kayla Banwarth earned her first victory as a head coach at the Maravich Center on February 28, 2021.
• Senior Anna Bair has 987 kills in her Ole Miss career, just 13 shy of the 1,000 kill milestone. She ranks 16th all-time in program history.
• Bair has been one of the conference's top attackers so far in 2022, ranking eighth in the SEC and 66th nationally with 3.86 kills per set.
• Ole Miss has leaned heavily on its freshmen this season. Aly Borellis ranks seventh nationally among freshmen with 9.74 assists per set, and Vivian Miller ranks sixth among freshmen in the SEC with 2.28 kills per set.
• 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.
• The 2022 roster features 12 members from last season's NCAA Tournament team, six freshmen and Utah transfer Sommer Daniel.
SCOUTING THE TIGERS
LSU is off to a hot start in conference play, knocking off a pair of ranked teams in #20 Arkansas and #15 Kentucky in the first week of action. Head coach Tonya Johnson has the Tigers near the top of the SEC standings and trending in the right direction with four wins in their last five matches.
The Tigers are led by Sanaa Dotson and Hannah Jacobs on the attack. Dotson paces the team and ranks third in the SEC with 4.06 kills per set while hitting at a .262 clip. Setter Josie Vondran averages 7.30 assists per set and has directed the LSU offense to a .256 attacking percentage as a team. Defensively, the Tigers are anchored by libero Ella Larkin, who leads the SEC with 4.25 digs per set. At the net, Anita Anwusi is registering 1.08 blocks per set for LSU.
SERIES HISTORY
LSU leads the overall series with Ole Miss 55-20; however, it has been a much more even series as of late with both teams splitting the last 10 meetings. In that time, all but one meeting has gone to at least four sets.
PREVIOUS MEETING
OXFORD, Miss – Unable to fend off the Tiger comeback, Ole Miss volleyball fell to LSU 3-2 Friday night at the Gillom Center. Despite a strong offensive performance from Anna Bair and Lauren Thompson, the Rebels couldn't slow down the LSU momentum.
Ole Miss started off strong, taking a close opening set over LSU. The Rebel jumped out to an early lead, holding a 15-11 advantage. Both teams traded 8-2 runs, but it was Ole Miss who came out on top after Katie Corelli closed out the set with two big kills to help the Rebels pick up a 25-23 set victory. Ole Miss followed it up with a dominant second set, nearly taking it by 10 points, 25-16.
Looking to close out the match, the Rebels and Tigers traded blows until LSU went on a 7-1 run to take a four-point lead late in set three. Ole Miss responded run of its own to retake the lead and bring the score to match point, but LSU battled from behind to extend the match. With a second chance to secure the victory, Ole Miss and LSU went to extra lengths in the fourth set. The Rebels got some separation after Ratliff and Thompson combined on a block before the media timeout and further extended their lead to 17-12, but once again, the Tigers didn't go away quietly. LSU put together a 7-2 run to tie it up at 19. From there, both teams went back-and-forth, but it was the Tigers who came out on top, 29-27. In the deciding set, the momentum was too strong on the LSU side of the court as the Tigers came back to complete the reverse sweep.
SHINING BRIGHT ON THE BIG STAGE
Even before they stepped on campus, head coach Kayla Banwarth's first recruiting class was making waves. Five of the six Rebels earned AVCA High School All-American honors their senior season, coming to Oxford ready to factor into the mix immediately. So far this season, Aly Borellis, Vivian Miller and Cammy Niesen have all seen the court and even established themselves as starters. Borellis has had a stellar start to her freshman campaign, ranking seventh nationally among freshmen at the setter position with 9.74 assists per set. Outside hitter Vivian Miller has also come on strong as of late, averaging 2.28 kills per set on the year and finishing in double-figures in three of her last four matches. Cammy Niesen rounds out the trio, having started all 12 matches at libero. She leads the team in digs and has tallied 10 or more eight times, including a career-best 20 dig outing against Eastern Kentucky.
CHASING 1K
Senior Anna Bair has been a staple of the Ole Miss attack each of the past four seasons she's donned a Rebel uniform. The strong-armed St. Louis native has racked up 987 kills in her career and is just over 10 away from the 1,000 milestone mark. On her quest for 1K, Bair is hitting at a .281 clip this season and averaging 3.86 kills per set. A leader on the court, Bair has led the Rebels in kills in all but two matches this season and has finished in double-figures 10 times.
BATTLE TESTED
Despite an tough 4-6 start to the 2022 season, the Rebels gained valuable experience on the court that will prepare them for conference 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.
CLEANING UP ON THE COAST
Ole Miss capped off another 2-1 weekend at the Jaguar Invitational in Mobile to close out non-conference play. The Rebels took care of business, sweeping Florida A&M and Eastern Kentucky while falling to South Alabama. Anna Bair had another big weekend finishing with 43 kills, and freshman Vivian Miller ranked second on the team with 29 kills, including back-to-back career-high performances.
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.
FROM 1-19 TO THE BIG DANCE
Last season, Kayla Banwarth and the Rebels did something no one thought they could. Following a 1-19 showing during the 2020-21 season, Ole Miss flipped the script and recorded its first 20-win season since 2017 and made the NCAA Tournament for just the fourth time in school history. The turnaround by the Rebels was the best in Division I Volleyball in terms of winning percentage (a 65 percent increase). Ole Miss was also one of two Power Five teams and five programs nationally to see a 20-plus win improvement from the previous year.
ROOKIES IN THE RANKINGS
Head coach Kayla Banwarth added top talent to the Rebels' 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.
