University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Golden Eagles Travel to Ole Miss for Rebel Invitational
8/30/2018 1:33:00 PM | Women's Volleyball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – A week after opening the 2018 season with a clean sweep at the Southern Miss Classic, the Golden Eagles will hit the road for a weekend tournament at Ole Miss. Ole Miss (2-1, 0-0 SEC), Ohio State (3-0, 0-0 BIG 10), Samford (2-1, 0-0 SoCon) and Little Rock (4-0, 0-0 Sun Belt) will be joining the Golden Eagles at the Rebel Invitational.
Southern Miss Schedule
Friday, 12 p.m. – Southern Miss vs. Ohio State
Saturday, 9:30 a.m. – Southern Miss vs. Little Rock
Saturday, 5 p.m. – Southern Miss vs. Samford
Sunday, 1:30 p.m. – Southern Miss vs. Ole Miss
Quick hits
- Catherine Repsher leads all of C-USA with a .622 hitting percentage.
- Kylie Grandy leads Sothern Miss with 38 kills and Repsher has 33 kills.
- Southern Miss is off to its first 3-0 start since 2015.
- Stephanie Radecki earned her first win as the Southern Miss head coach when the Golden Eagles defeated Spring Hill in the home opener.
- Sarah Bell recently moved into third all-time in assists at Southern Miss. The senior currently has 4,029 assists and sits 728 away from the top spot.
- The combined record of teams participating in the Rebel Invitational is 14-2.
Ohio State
The Buckeyes enter the Rebel Invitational without a blemish on their record after going 3-0 against Albany, Ohio and Texas A&M. Lauren Witte, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, leads Ohio State with 37 kills and a hitting percentage of .636. Olivia Dailey is averaging 12.10 assists per set to go along with two digs per set.
Southern Miss kicks off the Rebel Invitational against the Buckeyes at 12 p.m. This will be the first time the Golden Eagles take on the Buckeyes in volleyball.
Little Rock
Van Compton leads the Trojans into Oxford with a 4-0 record after sweeping all four matches last weekend. Taylor Lindberg and Pamela Zuluaga pace Little Rock with 77 and 55 assists, respectively. In total, Little Rock has five members with at least 20 kills. Mya Robinson leads the group with 34 kills and Maritza Mesa is not far behind at 30.
The Trojans and Golden Eagles last faced each other at the Southern Miss Classic in 2017. Southern Miss was able to squeak out a 3-2 win after losing the first two sets.
Samford
Samford enters the weekend at 2-1 after knocking off McNeese State and Loyola, only to drop its final match to Kennesaw State. Up front, Kelsi Hobbs and Lauren Deaton have 43 and 42 kills, respectively. Shayla Phillip recorded 13 blocks on opening weekend to lead the Bulldogs, while Taylor Anderton had 132 assists.
This is the first meeting between Southern Miss and Samford since 2010. The Golden Eagles lead the series 8-2.
Ole Miss
The Rebels come in as the only team to have faced a ranked opponent this season. Ole Miss fell to then-No. 21 Iowa State in three sets, but bounced back to beat Oregon State in five sets to close out the Iowa State Challenge. Emily Stroup, a 6-foot senior, leads Ole Miss with 54 kills and averages 4.50 kills per set. Lauren Bars and Jordan Fate lead the Rebels with 66 and 58 kills, respectively.
The Rebels are 26-4 against Southern Miss and the two last met in 2015, ending in a 3-0 win for Ole Miss.
