Volleyball Hosts Ole Miss Invitational

			OLE MISS INVITATIONAL Sept. 7-9 Oxford, Miss. Gillom Athletics Performance Center
Ole Miss Notes (PDF) • South Dakota State Notes (PDF) • SEC Notes (PDF)

Thursday, Sept. 7 vs. Alcorn State 6 p.m. CT	Friday, Sept. 8 vs. South Dakota State 7 p.m. CT	Saturday, Sept. 9 vs. Tennessee Tech 4 p.m.
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RALLY POINTS
• Ole Miss volleyball is back in Oxford as the Rebels return to Gillom to host the Ole Miss Invitational September 7-9, featuring Alcorn State, South Dakota State and Tennessee Tech.
• The Rebels are debuting their new powder blue Taraflex court for the first time this weekend.
• Ole Miss picked up its first two wins of the season last week at the LUV Invitational, topping Lipscomb and Tennessee State.
• Redshirt freshman Tessa Jones made her collegiate debut against Tennessee State, tallying four kills and a block.
• Setter Aly Borellis notched her 1,000th career assist on opening weekend. She ranks 20th nationally with 10.94 assists per set this season.
• 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.
• 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 Mariah Prince, Alcorn State enters the weekend looking for its first win of the season. The Lady Braves are 0-3 after coming up short against Memphis, Miami (OH) and Samford two weeks ago. Alcorn State welcomes back a few key returners Demya Tate, Ramona Pulu, and senior Makayla Wardlaw. After one weekend of play at the Tiger Brawl in Memphis, Wardlaw leads the team with 1.44 kills per set and is hitting at a team-high .156 clip. Defensively, Tate paces the Lady Braves with 0.56 blocks per set.

South Dakota State and head coach Dan Georgalas boast a 1-5 record as it travels to Oxford. The Jackrabbits are coming off a tough weekend at the Fryfest Invitational where they fell to Kent State in five sets and were swept by Middle Tennessee and Iowa. SDSU's offense is led by outside hitters Katie Van Egdom and Sylvie Zgonc, who are averaging 3.59 and 3.45 kills per set. Setter Raegen Reilly drives the unit after dishing out a program record 1,307 assists last season.

Tennessee Tech rounds out the tournament field. Coached by Jeannette Phillips in her sixth season, the Golden Eagles are off to a 2-4 start to their 2023 campaign. Through six matches, setter and reigning OVC Freshman of the Year Jordan Karlen leads the offense along with outside hitter Madolyn Isringhausen. As a team, the Golden Eagles boast a sound defense that averages 14.6 digs per set and 1.7 blocks per set.

SERIES HISTORY
Ole Miss has never lost to Alcorn State or Tennessee Tech. The Rebels boast a 3-0 record against the Lady Braves and an 8-0 mark against the Golden Eagles. Friday's meeting with South Dakota State will mark the first meeting between the Rebels and Jackrabbits.

YOU LUV TO SEE IT
Ole Miss picked up its first two wins of the 2023 season last weekend 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 10.94 assists per set, fourth in the SEC and 20th in the country.

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. This past weekend redshirt freshman 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.

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 third in the rally scoring era and 10th all-time with 1,230 total kills. A key piece of the attack ever since stepping on campus, Bair has appeared in 106 matches in a Rebel uniform and recorded double-digit kills in 69, including all five this season.

Miller returns for a fifth season in an Ole Miss uniform after appearing in over 250 sets across 74 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 33 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 311 total blocks, fifth in block assists with 253 and seventh in solo blocks with 58. 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 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 251 total blocks in her career, including 123 last season. Ratliff ranks fifth with 311 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.

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 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

Tessa Jones

Shayla Meyer

Maggie Miller

Vivian Miller

Cammy Niesen

Sasha Ratliff

Nia Washington

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