Volleyball Wraps Up Non-Conference Play At SFA Tournament

			SFA TOURNAMENT September 15-16 Nacogdoches, Texas Shelton Gym
Ole Miss Notes (PDF) • SEC Notes (PDF)

Friday, Sept. 15 vs. Tulsa 11 a.m. CT	Friday, Sept. 15 vs. Sam Houston 6 p.m. CT	Saturday, Sept. 16 at Stephen F. Austin 1:30 p.m.
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RALLY POINTS
• Ole Miss volleyball rounds out non-conference play in Nacogdoches, Texas, September 15 and 16 against Tulsa, Sam Houston and SFA.
• The Rebels are coming off a perfect 3-0 weekend at the Ole Miss Invitational. They have now swept four straight opponents and are on a five-match winning streak.
• Ole Miss tied its single match program record, hitting a blistering .488 against Alcorn State.
• The Rebels have held three of their last five opponents to a .100 hitting percentage or lower.
• The middle blocker duo of Payton Brgoch and Sasha Ratliff both rank inside the top 30 nationally in hitting percentage.
• Setter Aly Borellis is dishing out assists at the ninth best rate in the country, averaging 11.30 assists per set this season.
• Senior Payton Brgoch cracked the top 10 in program history with 259 career blocks.
• Sasha Ratliff, a two-time All-SEC Team member, was one of 15 student-athletes named to the conference's preseason team.

SCOUTING THE FIELD
Led by first-year head coach Lauren Ramatowski, the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes are looking to continue their hot streak after winning the Tulsa Invitational tournament last week. They took down Oral Roberts, UT Arlington and Central Arkansas, dropping just one set over the course of the weekend. The Golden Hurricane are led offensively by 2022 AAC First-Team All-Conference outside Kayley Cassaday, who leads the team and is ranked second among all division one athletes, with 5.58 kills per set. In the backcourt, junior libero Marta Pecalli leads the charge with 4.15 digs per set, good for eighth in the American Athletic Conference.

The Sam Houston State Bearkats enter the weekend 6-4 on the season after taking second place at the McNeese Invitational last week. Sam Houston defeated Jackson State and McNeese but dropped a four-set match to SEMO. Three-time conference coach of the year Brenda Gray returns star players McKenzie Morvant, Avery Fowler, and Hannah Baker. As a team, the Bearkats will load up their strong defense that averages 14.9 digs per set and 1.7 blocks per set.

The host, Stephen F. Austin, rounds out the field for the weekend. The Jacks enter the tournament at 8-2 after winning the first SFA Invitational and taking second at the South Alabama Invitational and the Northern Arizona Invitational. Through 10 matches, star sophomore middle blocker and 2022 WAC All-Freshman Team honoree Isabella Ortiz leads the team with 51 total blocks. Offensively, the Jacks are led by senior right side Lelan Bradley and sophomore outside Camryn Hill with 2.84 and 2.34 kills per set, respectively.

SERIES HISTORY
Ole Miss is a combined 12-3 against the tournament field. The Rebels have never lost to Tulsa, winning both meetings, and boast a 3-1 record against the host SFA. Ole Miss is 7-2 against Sam Houston State, including a win over the Bearkats last season.

HOME SWEEP HOME
Ole Miss swept through the competition on its opening weekend in Oxford. The Rebels were crowned Ole Miss Invitational Champs after defeating Alcorn State, South Dakota State and Tennessee Tech in straight sets. Ole Miss was firing on all cylinders, hitting a combined .383 on the weekend while holding opponents to a mere .104 mark. Payton Brgoch was named tournament MVP, recording 30 kills on a .683 clip over nine sets played. Teammates Anna Bair and Sasha Ratliff joined her on the All-Tournament.

HOT HITTING
Playing in front of its home crowd for the first time this season, the Rebels put on an offensive clinic, dominating Alcorn State to open the Ole Miss Invitational. The Rebels tied the program record for attacking percentage set two seasons ago against Alabama A&M, hitting at a blistering .488 mark with nearly 50 kills on 80 attempts. Payton Brgoch led the way with 11 kills on 16 swings, and Sasha Ratliff was also a perfect 6-of-6 in the match.

YOU LUV TO SEE IT
Ole Miss picked up its first two wins of the 2023 season in Nashville. The Rebels went 2-0 at the LUV Invitational, topping Lipscomb in a five-set thriller and sweeping Tennessee State the following day. Middle blockers Payton and Brgoch both earned spots on the All-Tournament team after combining for 35 kills on 59 swings for a .508 attacking percentage. Setter Aly Borellis also earned an All-Tourney nod after leading the Rebels to a .300-plus hitting percentage in both matches.

NEW COURT, WHO DIS?
This season, the Rebels will debut a new Taraflex court. Often described as the "best volleyball surface in the world," Taraflex offers the most protection upon impact compared to any other sports floor. For elite athletes, such as volleyball players who jump, pivot, slide and dive, Taraflex offers superior shock absorption and drastically reduces friction burns, resulting in fewer injuries. Ole Miss' Taraflex court features a faux wood pattern outlined in the Rebels' signature Powder Blue.

DIME TIME
Sophomore setter Aly Borellis picked up her 1,000th career assist on August 27, needing only 28 matches to accomplish the feat. Last season, the Rochester, Michigan, native earned SEC All-Freshman team honors after leading the Rebel offense. Now, just five matches into the 2023 season, she is looking to not only establish herself as one of the conference's best setters but the nation's. Borellis is averaging 11.30 assists per set, second in the SEC and ninth in the country.

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 total blocks 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 ranks tenth, boasting 259 total blocks in her career, including 123 last season. Ratliff ranks fifth with 318 total blocks in her career. She has eclipsed 100 blocks in each of the past two years, including 129 in 2021. With both middles playing their senior season, they look to cement themselves as two of the best to ever wear an Ole Miss uniform.

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're back 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 third in the rally scoring era and eighth all-time with 1,249 total kills. A key piece of the attack ever since stepping on campus, Bair has appeared in 109 matches in a Rebel uniform and recorded double-digit kills in 70, including six this season.

Miller returns for a fifth season in an Ole Miss uniform after appearing in over 250 sets across 77 matches in her career. The Houston, Texas, native is a steady passer in the back row, averaging 1.49 digs per set in her career, and gives the Rebels another weapon at the service line with 35 career aces.

FAMILY AFFAIR
Blocking runs in the Ratliff family. In just three years, Ole Miss middle blocker Sasha Ratliff has quickly climbed into the top 10 in the record books, ranking fifth all-time in the rally scoring era with 318 total blocks, fifth in block assists with 253 and fifth in solo blocks with 62. A dominant force at the net, Ratliff has tallied 100-plus blocks in each of her last two seasons and is looking to do it a third straight time as she begins her senior year. Her knack for blocking comes from her father, Theo, who was a shot blocker too. One of basketball's best, he ranks 20th in NBA history with nearly 2,000 blocks in his 16 year career.

REBEL DEBUTS
This season, three new faces joined the Rebels on the court. Sophomore Nia Washington made her Ole Miss debut after transferring from Iowa. She checked in off the bench against St. John's and made her first start the very next day, finishing with a double-double (13 kills and a career-high 17 digs). Redshirt freshman Shayla Meyer made her collegiate debut, entering the match against FGCU in a reserve role. The Superior, Nebraska, native was involved in multiple facets of the game, tallying eight kills on a .583 clip, seven digs, a block and an ace. She followed it up the next day, earning her first start against Arizona State and posting eight kills and eight digs. Tessa Jones also saw her first collegiate action against Tennessee State. The Cleves, Ohio, product came off the bench in the third set and recorded four kills and a block to cap off the sweep.

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

Sasha Ratliff

Nia Washington

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