The Rebels (13-6, 3-4 SEC) are seeking a signature win against the No. 14 Wildcats (11-7, 5-2 SEC), who sit in a tie for second place in the conference.
RALLY POINTS
- Sunday’s match opens a streak of battles with nationally recognized opponents, beginning with No. 14 Kentucky, following a trip to Auburn (RV) and at No. 24 Florida over their next three contests.
- Junior outside hitter Nia Washington continues to shine in a breakout campaign and has now tallied all four of her career 20-kill matches in SEC play this season.
- Sasha Ratliff is on the chase for 1,000 kills in her career, standing at 995 in her career. Ratliff ranks 10th all-time at Ole Miss in kills in the rally scoring era. Additionally, she could become the third Rebel ever with at least 1,000 kills and 400 blocks.
- Libero Cammy Niesen now stands at 1,175 career digs, which ranks sixth all-time in the rally scoring era and seventh all-time between both eras.
- The service game has become critical for the Rebels to have success this season, as the team is 12-1 overall when they tally more service aces than their opponent.
SERIES HISTORY
- Ole Miss matches up with Kentucky for the 64th time, trailing 12-51 in the all-time ledger against the 2020 national champions.
- The Rebels are seeking their first win over the Wildcats since 2010 and their first win over Kentucky in Oxford since 2008. The Wildcats have won the last 21 meetings in the series. However, the Rebels have forced the issue in recent seasons, pushing the Wildcats to four or five sets in each of the last four matchups.
LAST TIME OUT
The Rebels dropped a road rivalry matchup at Mississippi State, falling 3-1 on Wednesday night in Starkville.
It was another banner afternoon for Nia Washington, who tallied 21 kills and matched a career-high with 17 digs, becoming the first Rebel to tally a 20-kill, 15-dig match since Emily Stroup on Nov. 22, 2019. Cammy Niesen added 20 digs, while Sasha Ratliff recorded seven blocks for the second straight match.
RISING STAR
Nia Washington is in the midst of a breakout junior season and her play has elevated the Rebels to new heights, as they’ve surged past last season’s win total by early October.
Washington has become a lethal hitter in recent weeks, averaging 4.50 kills per set in conference play, compared to her 3.59 kills per set average this season. The New Orleans native has four, 20-kill matches in her last six contests and has already blown past all of her previous career-highs across numerous categories so far.
Her play has gained her recognition on the national scale, as she tallied 20 kills in a win against Tennessee and 28 kills in a win against LSU, before being named to NCAA Volleyball’s “Rotation of the Week”. The Rebels are now 8-1 in matches where she hits over .200.
MOKI MAGIC
After tallying 104 assists over two, four-set SEC wins against Tennessee and LSU, Mokihana Tufono earned her first SEC Setter of the Week honors on October 7.
Tufono opened the week with a career-high 54 assists in the win over Tennessee, while adding eight digs and two blocks. From there, Tufono added another 50 assists and 11 digs in the win over LSU, while also matching a career-best with five total blocks. Her efforts were particularly critical in helping Nia Washington rise to new heights, as Washington also set career-highs in back-to-back matches with 20 and 28 kills.
NIE-FENSE
Following a standout defensive performance in Houston, Cammy Niesen earned SEC weekly honors for the first time since 2022, as the junior libero was named the SEC Co-Defensive Player of the Week on September 23.
Niesen tallied 58 digs and 13 assists, while recording the 1,000th dig of her career during her award-winning weekend. Niesen was particularly impactful in the five-set win over Houston, with 19 digs and six assists, as well as notching 21 digs in the win over Texas A&M Commerce. With performances of 20 digs (Arkansas), 17 digs (Tennessee), 17 (LSU) and 15 (Texas A&M), Niesen tallied seven consecutive matches of 15 or more digs for the first time in her career.
FAMILY AFFAIR
Blocking runs in the Ratliff family. In four years, Ole Miss middle blocker Sasha Ratliff has established herself as one of the top blockers in program history, ranking first all-time in the rally scoring era with 460 total blocks, first in block assists with 369 and second in solo blocks with 91. A dominant force at the net, Ratliff has tallied 100-plus blocks in each of her last three seasons and is looking to do it a fourth straight time as she enters her fifth year as a Rebel. 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.
CLIMBING THE LADDER
Several Rebels are poised to etch their names in the all-time record books in 2024 across multiple different metrics.
Sasha Ratliff and Payton Brgoch are seeking to end their careers at No. 1 and No. 2 on the all-time blocks list (post rally scoring). Ratliff (460) has taken the No. 1 spot, while Brgoch sits at No. 3 (414) and just 22 blocks away from passing Nakeyta Clair (435) for No. 2.
Additionally, Ratliff and Brgoch also rank 3rd and 5th respectively on the combined blocks list. Ratliff sits behind Genevieve Shy (1993-96 – 502 blocks) and Julie Link (1983-86 – 484 blocks), who both competed during the sideout scoring era.
Junior libero Cammy Niesen continues to rewrite the record books on the defensive side by rising up the top-10 all-time in the rally scoring era.
Niesen stands at 1,175 career digs, which ranks sixth all-time in the rally scoring era and seventh all-time between both eras. Niesen needs 57 digs to pass Nicole Purcell and move into the top-five in the rally scoring era.
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