Volleyball Opens SEC Play In Gillom Against Alabama

			OLE MISS (6-5, 0-0 SEC) vs. ALABAMA (10-1, 0-0 SEC) Friday, Sept. 22 • 6 p.m. CT • Oxford, Miss. Gillom Center
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RALLY POINTS
• After wrapping up non-conference action, Ole Miss volleyball opens SEC play at home against Alabama on Friday, September 22.
• The Rebels enter league play at 6-5 overall.
• Ole Miss has won four straight against Alabama and two of its last three against Auburn.
• Sasha Ratliff earned a spot on all four of the Rebels' non-conference tournament teams.
• Cammy Niesen's 34 digs against Tulsa are the most by a Rebel since 2010. She led the Ole Miss defense as it broke the single match digs record.
• Setter Aly Borellis is dishing out assists at the 13th best rate in the country, averaging 10.90 assists per set this season.
• The middle blocker duo of Payton Brgoch and Sasha Ratliff both rank inside the top 40 nationally in hitting percentage.
• Sasha Ratliff, a two-time All-SEC Team member, was one of 15 student-athletes named to the conference's preseason team.

SCOUTING THE TIDE
This weekend, the Rebels open up SEC play, hosting the Alabama Crimson Tide, who were voted last in the SEC preseason poll. Despite being picked to finish 13th, they concluded their non-conference schedule with a 10-1 record, dropping just eight sets. Led by Rashina Reed in her second year, the Crimson Tide will bring a strong all around game, ranking second in the SEC in hitting percentage and opponent hitting percentage and third in service aces per set. They are led offensively by senior outside Kendyl Reaugh, who leads the team with 3.56 kills per set, good for ninth in the SEC. Defensively, junior libero Sydney Gholson leads Alabama with 3.65 digs per set, which ranks sixth in the SEC, and Chaise Campbell with 0.97 blocks per set. Winners of four straight, the Rebels will look to put an end to the Crimson Tide's streak this weekend in Oxford.

SERIES HISTORY
Alabama leads the all-time series with Ole Miss 47-30; however, the Rebels have won each of the last four meetings, including a pair last season in Oxford.

LAST MEETING
Ole Miss took care of business for the second straight match, sweeping the weekend series with Alabama. Vivian Miller was virtually unstoppable on the attack, leading the attack with a career-high 18 kills on a.485 clip as the Rebels rolled to a 3-1 victory. The freshman was lights out, as she buried nearly half of her swings for kills and added 17 digs for her second collegiate double-double. Right behind her were Anna Bair and Katie Corelli, who tacked on 17 and 13 kills, respectively. Freshman setter Aly Borellis guided the offense with 43 kills as her team hit .287 on the afternoon.

DIGGIN' IT
The Ole Miss backcourt, led by libero Cammy Niesen helped Ole Miss tally 113 digs last weekend against Tulsa, breaking another single match program record this season. Five Rebels finished with double-digit digs as the team topped the century mark. Niesen led the effort with a career-high 34 digs, the third most in a single match in the rally scoring era and the most by a Rebel since 2010. Aly Borellis, Maggie Miller, Anna Bair and Julia Dyess all followed with 10-plus in the match. The Ole Miss defense is averaging 14.73 digs per set through 11 matches this season, the top mark in the SEC. Niesen also leads all athletes in the conference with her 4.56 digs per set.

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.

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.

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.

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 10.90 assists per set, third in the SEC and 13th 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 ninth, boasting 269 total blocks in her career, including 123 last season. Ratliff ranks fifth with 330 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 sixth all-time with 1,271 total kills. A key piece of the attack ever since stepping on campus, Bair has appeared in 111 matches in a Rebel uniform and recorded double-digit kills in 71, including seven this season.

Miller returns for a fifth season in an Ole Miss uniform after appearing in nearly 300 sets across 80 matches in her career. The Houston, Texas, native is a steady passer in the back row, averaging 1.55 digs per set in her career, and gives the Rebels another weapon at the service line with 38 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 330 total blocks, fifth in block assists with 267 and fifth in solo blocks with 63. 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.

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 conference. Ratliff is looking to become the second Rebels to ever earn All-Conference honors three times in their career this year.

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

Anna Bair

Aly Borellis

Payton Brgoch

Katie Corelli

Julia Dyess

Maggie Miller

Vivian Miller

Cammy Niesen

Sasha Ratliff

The University of Mississippi Athletics