Ole Miss Volleyball Heads to Troy

By Adam Brown
Sports Editor
adam.brown@hottytoddy.com

Ole Miss volleyball heads over to Tory, Alabama to take part in the Troy Preseason Invitational this weekend. The Rebels will take the court on Friday night against the host school the Troy Trojans. The first serve is set for 6 p.m.

Ole Miss is led by second-year head coach Kayla Banwarth who is going into their first non-conference matchup at the helm. Last season, the Rebels only played an SEC conference-only slate in which they finished with a 1-19 overall record.

Banwarth and her staff return 10 from last year’s squad, including the core of the Rebel defense, who set a program single-match record with 18.0 total blocks at LSU.

On the outsides, Ole Miss brings back three of its hardest hitters as Anna Bair, GG Carvacho and Samantha Schnitta accounted for over 50% of the team’s total kills in 2020-21. Schnitta racked up five double-doubles as a freshman to pace the team.

Troy is coming off of a 2020 season of primarily playing Sun Belt Conference matches, with an 11-9 record and an appearance in the SBC Tournament semifinals.

The Trojans have been tabbed to finish second in the Sun Belt East Division and tallied the third-most points overall in conference voting. Two Trojans also picked up preseason honors. Setter Amara Anderson and outside hitter Cheyenne Hayes were named to the Preseason All-Sun Belt team for the second consecutive year. Anderson and Hayes return after earning All-Sun Belt First team accolades the last two seasons.

When the Rebels and the Trojans face off it will be the first-ever meeting between the two clubs.