Volleyball Opens Season At FGCU Homewood Suites Invitational

			FGCU HOMEWOOD SUITES INVITATIONAL August 25-27 Fort Myers, Fla. Alico Arena
Ole Miss Notes (PDF) • Arizona State Notes (PDF) • St. John's Notes (PDF)

Friday, Aug. 25 vs. St. John's 3 p.m. CT	Saturday, Aug. 26 at FGCU 5 p.m. CT	Sunday, Aug. 27 vs. Arizona State 10 a.m.
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RALLY POINTS
• Ole Miss volleyball opens the season on the road in Fort Myers, Florida, taking on St. John's, FGCU and Arizona State at the FGCU Homewood Suites Invitational.
• This weekend will mark the Rebels' first meetings with the Johnnies, Eagles and Sun Devils.
• After serving in an interim role for the final 11 matches last season, Bre Henry was named the ninth head coach at Ole Miss.
• Sasha Ratliff, a two-time All-SEC Team member, was one of 15 student-athletes named to the conference's preseason team. She looks to become the second-ever Rebel to earn three All-Conference nods in her career.
• Four years in a Rebel uniform just wasn't enough for Anna Bair and Maggie Miller, who chose to utilize their extra year of eligibility and return for a fifth season with the Rebels.
• Last season, the Rebels' young core of Aly Borellis, Cammy Niesen and Vivian Miller turned heads in the SEC, garnering a combined four weekly honors. Borellis also earned a spot on the SEC All-Freshman team.

SCOUTING THE FIELD
Heading into her 30th season with St. John's Volleyball, Joanne Persico, the only head coach in the program's history, leads the Red Storm. With 545 career victories, including 20 from a year ago, Persico ranks 23rd among active head coaches in wins. The Johnnies, picked fourth in the BIG-EAST preseason poll, will look for junior Giorgia Walther to have another big year after leading the Red Storm with 463 total kills and 3.67 kills per set in 2022. Along with Walther, St. John's returns a talented group from the 2022 squad, including BIG EAST All-Freshman Team selection Lucrezia Lodi and setter Wiktoria Kowalczyk, who led the Red Storm in assists with 1,299.

The hosts, Florida Gulf Coast, are led by head coach Matt Botsford in his 10th year with the program. A sneaky program that can't be overlooked, the Eagles are one of only 15 teams nationally with 120 or more wins in the past five seasons. Last year, Botsford led the Eagles to a 26-7 record and a second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. With eight players returning from a season ago, FGCU was tabbed as the ASUN Conference preseason favorite to win the league. The Eagles 2023 squad is also highlighted by four preseason all-conference selections in middle blocker Juliana Lentz and setter Lily Tessier.

Under first-year head coach JJ Van Niel, the 2023 Arizona State Volleyball squad has a core group of returning student-athletes and six newcomers. Of the nine returners, eight have playing experience. Van Niel also welcomed in three freshmen and three transfers to round out his squad. The Sun Devils look to improve on last season when the squad went 13-19, finishing in ninth in the Pac-12 with a 7-13 conference mark. Senior right side hitter Marta Levinska looks to help lead ASU after being named to the Preseason All-Pac-12 Team.

SERIES HISTORY
For all three teams in the field at the Homewood Suites Invitational, it will mark their first meeting with the Rebels. Ole Miss has never faced off against St. John's, FGCU or Arizona State on the court.

SUPER SENIORS
Four years in a Rebel uniform just wasn't enough for Anna Bair and Maggie Miller. After graduating last May with undergraduate degrees from Ole Miss, the two seniors made the decision to come back and utilize their fifth year of eligibility. Now in their "super senior" season, they return for one more year with their teammates and coaches.

Bair returns for a fifth season after earning back-to-back AVCA South All-Region honors the past two years. She is one of 15 student-athletes in Ole Miss history to tally 1,000 career kills, ranking 12th all-time with 1,165, and is just 35 away from cracking the top-10. A key piece of the attack ever since stepping on campus, Bair has appeared in 101 matches in a Rebel uniform.

Miller returns for a fifth season in an Ole Miss uniform after appearing in nearly 250 sets across 69 matches in her career. The Houston, Texas, native looks to continue to leave her legacy with the hopes of taking the Rebels back to the NCAA Tournament.

ELECTRIC ATTACK
Last season, Ole Miss ran one of the SEC and nation's top offenses under assistant coach Brad Creamer. The Rebels finished the season with the third most kills per set in the conference (49th in the country) and tallied the most team kills since 2018. Running an electric attack they spread the ball around, feeding middle blockers Payton Brgoch and Sasha Ratliff to the second and third best hitting percentages in the SEC, respectively. Ole Miss also saw outside hitters Anna Bair flourish and Vivian Miller burst onto the scene.

REBEL ROOFING CO.
Over the past three seasons, the Rebels have been fortunate enough to watch two of the program's best middle blockers share the court. Payton Brgoch and Sasha Ratliff are leaving their legacy on Ole Miss volleyball. The duo both actively rank inside the top 10 in program history for block assists in the rally scoring era, boast the second and third best single seasons in program history when it comes to blocking and led the Rebels to a new program record for blocks in a season in 2021. Brgoch boasts 227 total blocks in her career, including 123 last season. Ratliff ranks fifth with 291 total blocks in her career. She has eclipsed 100 blocks in each of the past two seasons, including 129 in 2021. With both middles heading into their senior year, they look to cement themselves as two of the best to ever wear an Ole Miss uniform.

PROGRAM CHANGERS
It's not just upperclassmen who are leaders for the Rebels. Bre Henry also welcomes back a highly touted freshmen class comprised of five AVCA High School All-Americans for their sophomore season. Setter Aly Borellis, outside hitter Vivian Miller and libero Cammy Niesen all played a key role in Ole Miss' success last year. The freshman trio did not disappoint in their rookie seasons in Oxford, collecting a combined four SEC Weekly Honors and playing in over 85.6% of the team's total sets. Henry's young core, that also includes redshirt freshmen Tessa Jones and Shayla Meyer, has made it their mission to put Ole Miss volleyball on the map and change the direction of the program.

AMONG THE LEAGUE'S BEST
Ahead of her senior season, Ole Miss middle blocker and two-time All-SEC team member Sasha Ratliff was one of fifteen student-athletes selected to the 2023 Volleyball Preseason All-SEC Team. It marks the second straight season that Ratliff has earned preseason praise from the SEC. She burst onto the scene as a sophomore and has collected conference honors each of the past two years. Last season, Ratliff earned All-SEC and AVCA All-Region honors, showcasing why she is one of the top middle blockers in the nation. The Atlanta, Georgia, native capped off her 2023 campaign with 106 total blocks, moving her into fifth all-time at Ole Miss with 291.0 in her career. Ratliff was also an offensive weapon for the Rebels, tallying the second most kills on the team. She finished her junior year with 277 kills, including 13 matches with double digits, while hitting at a blistering .343 clip that ranked third in the SEC.

REBEL DEBUTS 🔜
Heading into the 2023 season, three members of Henry's squad are eagerly waiting to make their Rebel debuts, including two who will get their first taste of collegiate volleyball.

Middle blocker Tessa Jones is back after redshirting last season. The former Prep Volleyball Top-150 recruit and 2021 AVCA Honorable Mention High School All-American tallied 606 kills and racked up 144 total blocks in her four-year career at Seton High School in Cleves, Ohio.

After missing last season with an injury, Shayla Meyer received a medical redshirt. The Superior, Nebraska, native racked up over 1,700 career kills, including a team-best 475 as a junior. She was named first team All-Conference three years in a row and rounded out her high school career with 2021 AVCA Honorable Mention All-American honors.

Nia Washington transferred to Oxford this summer after spending one season with the Hawkeyes, where she appeared in 17 matches. The sophomore posted 36 kills on 120 total attacks, including a career-best 16 kills in Iowa's win over Michigan.

RED, WHITE AND BLUE REBELS
Each of the past two seasons, Ole Miss has been represented at the U.S. Women's National Team Open Program in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Sasha Ratliff was able to participate and train with some of the top athletes in the nation back in February 2022, and this past season her teammate Aly Borellis had the opportunity to learn from the best, receiving an invitation to the prestigious training program. Both Rebels had the opportunity to spend three days training with some of the top collegiate athletes in the country as part of the selection process for the U.S. Women's National Team and the U.S. Women's Collegiate National Team.

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

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Players Mentioned

Anna Bair

Aly Borellis

Payton Brgoch

Tessa Jones

Shayla Meyer

Maggie Miller

Vivian Miller

Cammy Niesen

Sasha Ratliff

Nia Washington

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