Ole Miss Volleyball Takes on Mississippi State

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

Ole Miss volleyball travels down to the Golden Triangle on Wednesday to take on in-state rival Mississippi State to close out the month of October. The first serve is set for 8 p.m. and can be seen on ESPNU.

Ole Miss (9-10, 5-4 SEC) is coming off back-to-back wins over conference foe the Missouri Tigers (3-0 and 3-2) over the weekend.

Against the Tigers, Ole Miss was led by middle blockers Payton Brgoch and Sasha Ratliff in the sweep as they combined for 55 kills on a .506 attacking percentage.

This season, senior Anna Bair is one of the top SEC attackers as she is ranked 10th with 3.66 kills per set. Bair picked up her 1,000th career kill on September 30, becoming just the 15th Rebel in program history to accomplish the feat.

Mississippi State comes into the match with an 11-8 overall record and 4-5 mark in league play. The Bulldogs started the season strong but have dropped each of their last three matches.

Taking advantage of her extra season of eligibility, senior Gabby Waden leads the MSU attack averaging 3.54 kills per set. Senior setter Gabby Coulter has the Bulldogs hitting at a .237 mark as a team while registering 9.35 assists per set.

Defensively, Mississippi State leads the conference with 15.21 digs per set but ranks last in blocking, with 1.79 blocks per set.

Ole Miss leads the all-time series with Mississippi State 73-29; however, the Bulldogs have won the last three meetings. Ole Miss looks to snap that streak on Wednesday. The Rebels are 26-17 when playing in Starkville.