Volleyball Continues SEC Opening Weekend At No. 24 Auburn

			OLE MISS (7-5, 1-0 SEC) vs. #24 AUBURN (10-2, 0-1 SEC) Sunday, Sept. 24 • 2 p.m. CT • Auburn, Ala. Neville Arena
WATCH • LIVE STATS OLE MISS NOTES (PDF) • AUBURN NOTES (PDF) • SEC NOTES (PDF)

RALLY POINTS
• Ole Miss volleyball continues its opening weekend of SEC play on the road against No. 24 Auburn on Sunday, September 24.
• The Rebels opened the conference slate with a 3-0 sweep over Alabama inside the Gillom Center on Friday.
• Ole Miss has won 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 TIGERS
The Auburn Tigers host the Ole Miss to conclude the opening weekend of conference play in the SEC. After a 10-1 start to the season, the Tigers are receiving national buzz, earning the No. 24 ranking in the AVCA/TARAFLEX Coaches Poll. As a team, the Tigers are ranked 15th in the NCAA in hitting percentage with a solid .289 clip. Fourth-year head coach Brent Crouch returns 2022 SEC All-Freshmen honorees Kendal Kemp, Madison Sheer, and Akasha Anderson, who look to lead the young Tiger team. Pacing the sophomore trio is senior setter Jackie Barrett, who tallies 9.86 assists per set, good for seventh in the SEC. In the backcourt, the Tigers are led by sophomore libero Sarah Morton, who averages 3.14 digs per set, the 10th best mark in the SEC.

SERIES HISTORY
Ole Miss leads the all-time series with Auburn 38-31, with the two schools splitting the last four contests.

LAST MEETING
Ole Miss kept things close with Auburn but was unable to come out on top in close sets, falling 1-3 to the Tigers Friday night at the Gillom Center. Vivian Miller paced Ole Miss offensively with 14 kills in the defeat.

It was a slow start for Ole Miss, who quickly fell behind 3-12. After calling a timeout to regroup, the Rebels stormed back with a 12-3 run to tie things up at 15 all. Both teams battled the remainder of the set. Ole Miss and Auburn each had chances, getting to set point, but it was the Tigers who ultimately came out on top, 27-25. The Rebels didn't let the opening set defeat define them, however. They came out with the same intensity and hit .462 to dominate the Tigers and even the match.

Auburn flipped it back on the Rebels in set three. The Tiger defense held Ole Miss to a .029 hitting percentage and ran away with things to go back up two sets to one. Fighting to force a fifth set, Ole Miss and Auburn went back and forth in set four. The Tigers finally broke through, building up a three-point lead at 20-17. Ole Miss climbed back within one but didn't have enough left in the tank to extend the match, falling 25-23.

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

Aly Borellis

Payton Brgoch

Julia Dyess

Maggie Miller

Vivian Miller

Cammy Niesen

Sasha Ratliff

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