Magnolia Invitational Tournament Central

OXFORD, Miss. – After opening the season with back-to-back tournaments in Miami and Cincinnati, Ohio, the Ole Miss volleyball team will play its home opener Friday against Alabama A&M as part of the 10th annual Magnolia Invitational at the Gillom Sports Center.

The Rebels (3-3) will be looking to win their sixth straight Magnolia Invitational crown and their seventh overall when they play host to Alabama A&M, Rice and North Dakota. Ole Miss will open the tournament with Alabama A&M at 1:30 p.m. CT before facing Rice as the second part of a doubleheader Friday at 7:00 p.m. CT. The Rebels will then take on North Dakota at 1:00 p.m. CT Saturday to close out the tournament.

“We always look forward to the Magnolia Invitational and playing at home,” Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin said. “With it being a home football weekend here in Oxford, it’s a great time to come by the Gilliom Center and catch some volleyball before the football game. The Gillom Center can be one of the tougher places to play in our league and in the country when we fill it up and I’m hoping we can do that this weekend with these three opponents.”

Ole Miss enters Friday morning’s match coming off back-to-back wins at the Xavier Invitational. After falling to Marquette in the tournament’s opening match, Ole Miss rebounded with a thrilling 3-2 victory over host-school Xavier that saw senior libero Ashley Veach tie the program record with 37 digs. Junior outside hitter Kara Morgan also had a strong match, hammering down a career-high 20 kills while senior setter Amanda Philpot passed out a season-high 46 assists. The Rebels then physically overwhelmed Tennessee Tech for a 3-0 victory on Sept. 1.

As a team, Ole Miss ranks third in the Southeastern Conference in digs with 16.24 digs per set. Individually, Veach ranks second in the conference with 5.44 digs per set. Veach’s 37- and 30-dig performances this season are the second and third most in the SEC.

The Rebels have claimed the Magnolia Invitational each of the last five seasons and six times overall. The Rebels won the event last season with a 3-0 win over Central Arkansas in the final match. The Rebels opened the tournament in 2011 with a 3-0 win over Arkansas-Little Rock before taking a 3-1 victory over Northwestern on day one. Ole Miss has won every Magnolia Invitational dating back to the 2006 season when Pitt claimed the title. Ole Miss is 24-6 overall in their tournament and has won each of its last 11 matches in the tournament.

Ole Miss has been very successful in its first home match of the season under Getzin, with the Rebels posting an 8-2 record in home openers over the past 10 seasons. The Rebels have also won each of their last eight home matches dating back to the 2004 season.

Four fans will be randomly selected for the Alabama A&M match to play a game of cornhole during the intermission for an iPod Nano. Later that night in the match against Rice, two fans will compete for a $50 Kroger card.

For all Ole Miss volleyball news and information, including daily recaps, live stats, results and the Magnolia Invitational Tournament Central page, go to OleMissSports.com. Fans can follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissVB and go to Facebook at Ole Miss Volleyball.