Sept. 27, 2012

Ole Miss Notes

The Last Meeting

Alabama	1
Ole Miss	3

November 25, 2011
Oxford, Miss.

Rebels Down Alabama 3-1 To Close Out Season Amanda Philpot tallied a triple-double on Friday night to help Ole Miss close out its season with a 3-1 win over Alabama.

Recap | Box Score

OXFORD, Miss. - Coming off an exciting 3-1 victory over intrastate rival Mississippi State on Friday night, the Ole Miss volleyball team (7-5, 1-2 Southeastern Conference) will hit the road again to take on Alabama (12-4, 1-3 SEC) and South Carolina (13-2, 2-2 SEC).

Ole Miss faces Alabama at 7 p.m. CT Friday before taking on the South Carolina Gamecocks on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. CT.

"It's always difficult to travel in the SEC where you have a good crowd to face," Ole Miss head coach Joe Getzin said. "We need to continue to mature and handle adverse situations on the road. We're still continuing to grow as a team and we're focusing on our side of the net. We did well with that last Friday and we hope to continue to do that this weekend."

Ole Miss enters Friday night's match coming off its first SEC victory of the season. The Rebels were led to a 3-1 victory over Mississippi State on Sept. 21 by senior setter Amanda Philpot, who recorded her second triple-double of the season. Philpot had 40 assists, 12 digs and 10 kills against the Bulldogs, while fellow co-captain Kara Morgan had her fifth double-double of the season with 15 kills and 11 digs.

Philpot has run the Ole Miss offense with 429 assists to go along with her 86 kills, which ranks third on the team.

Morgan and senior right side hitter Allegra Wells have been the Rebels' kill leaders with 147 and 125, respectively. Morgan's 3.80 kills per set average in conference play is the seventh best mark in the SEC.

On the defensive side, senior Ashley Veach has continued to excel in her first season at the libero position. Veach ranks second in the SEC in all matches with 5.11 digs per set. Veach's 30- and 37-dig performances this season at Miami (Fla.) and at Xavier, respectively, are the second and fourth most by a student-athlete in the SEC.

The Crimson Tide enter Friday night's contest after dropping a pair of road matches last weekend at Georgia and at Auburn. The Rebels are 7-12 against Alabama in the Joe Getzin era, but are 3-1 against the Tide over the last two seasons. Each team won at its home court last season, as Ole Miss swept Alabama 3-0 on "Senior Night" last year in Oxford.

The Rebels are 7-10 against South Carolina in the Joe Getzin era, and are 3-1 against the Gamecocks in the last two seasons. Each team won on the opposing team's floor last season, as Ole Miss dropped a 3-1 decision to South Carolina in Oxford before defeating the Gamecocks 3-0 in Columbia.

Ole Miss will face two of the top active kill leaders in the SEC this weekend. Alabama senior outside hitter Kayla Fitterer is second in the conference with 1,147 kills in her impressive career. Fitterer is averaging 3.67 kills per set this season.

For South Carolina, junior outside hitter Juliette Thévenin has recorded 891 kills in her three-year career and is averaging 4.31 kills per set this season in all matches, and an SEC-high 4.75 kills per set in conference action.

For all Ole Miss volleyball news and information, including recaps, live stats and results, go to OleMissSports.com. Follow the Rebels on Twitter at @OleMissVB and go to Facebook at Ole Miss Volleyball.