Ole Miss Daily: Volleyball releases 2023 schedule

Head coach Bre Henry unveiled Ole Miss volleyball’s 2023 schedule on Monday ahead of her first season leading the program.

The Rebels 2023 slate features a preseason exhibition and four non-conference tournaments followed by 18 conference matches. Further, of Ole Miss’ 29 matches, 13 are against teams that reached the NCAA Tournament last season.

Fans will get their first glimpse of the 2023 squad on August 19, when Ole Miss hosts Arkansas State in an exhibition match before hitting the road for the opening weekend of the season. The Rebels officially kick things off in Fort Myers, Florida, with a non-conference tournament featuring St. John’s, FGCU and Arizona State from August 25-27. They remain on the road the following week for a pair of matches against Lipscomb and Tennessee State to round out August and begin September.

Ole Miss returns home September 7-9 to host its annual tournament at the Gillom Athletics Performance Center. This year, the Ole Miss Invitational field features Alcorn State, South Dakota State and Tennessee Tech. The Rebels round out non-conference play in Nacogdoches, Texas, the following weekend with matches against Tulsa, Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin on September 15 and 16.

The Rebels open SEC play at home for the second consecutive season and play four of their first five matches against conference opponents at the Gillom Center. Ole Miss begins the 18-match slate, welcoming Alabama to town on September 22 before traveling to Auburn on the 24th. The Rebs then return home for three straight matches against South Carolina (Sept. 29), Tennessee (Oct. 1) and Texas A&M (Oct. 6).

Ole Miss then hits the road for a five-match stretch from October 8 to October 22, with contests at Kentucky, Arkansas, Missouri, Georgia and Mississippi State. The Rebels finally return home for the end of October, where they will welcome defending SEC champion Florida to Oxford on the 25th, followed by Missouri on the 29th. 

November begins with a midweek home match against LSU on the first of the month. Ole Miss then hits the road for matches at South Carolina and Tennessee on November 5 and 12, respectively. The Rebels then come back to Oxford for their final two home matches of the year against Arkansas on November 15 and an in-state showdown with Mississippi State on Senior Day on November 19. 

The Rebels’ regular season wraps up on November 22 in College Station with a midweek match against Texas A&M.

Ole Miss returns 10 letterwinners from a season ago, highlighted by AVCA All-Region honorees Sasha Ratliff and Anna Bair, as well as All-SEC freshman setter Aly Borellis. The Rebels return a talented freshman class that claimed four weekly conference honors a year ago.

2023 Volleyball Schedule

• August 19 – Arkansas State (Exhibition)
• August 25 – St. John’s (Fort Myers, Fla.)
• August 26 – at Florida Gulf Coast
• August 27 – Arizona State (Fort Myers, Fla.)
• August 31 – at Lipscomb
• September 1 – Tennessee State (Nashville)
• September 7 – Alcorn State
• September 8 – South Dakota State
• September 9 – Tennessee Tech
• September 15 – Tulsa (Nacogdoches, Texas)
• September 15 – Sam Houston State (Nacogdoches, Texas)
• September 16 – at Stephen F. Austin
• September 22 – Alabama
• September 24 – at Auburn
• September 29 – South Carolina
• October 1 – Tennessee
• October 6 – Texas A&M
• October 8 – at Kentucky
• October 13 – at Arkansas
• October 15 – at Missouri
• October 18 – at Georgia
• October 22 – at Mississippi State
• October 25 – Florida
• October 29 – Missouri
• November 1 – LSU
• November 5 – at South Carolina
• November 12 – at Tennessee
• November 15 – Arkansas
• November 19 – Mississippi State
• November 22 – at Texas A&M

Ole Miss track & field ready for USA Championships, other world competitions

This upcoming weekend marks the beginning of a busy international competition schedule for current, past and present Ole Miss track & field affiliated athletes, beginning most notably with the 2023 USA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Oregon’s Hayward Field on July 6-9.

Ole Miss will have 16 total athletes at the U.S. national championships, 12 at the main senior meet for a chance to represent Team USA at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest in August. Meanwhile, the remaining four athletes – freshmen Brooke Franke and Arvesta Troupe, as well as signees Skylar Soli and Mensi Stiff – will compete at the U20 portion of the national meet for a chance to represent the United States at the Pan American U20 Championships in Puerto Rico in August.

Ole Miss will also be represented at this weekend’s national meet in the United Kingdom by All-American mid-distance stars Tiarnan Crorken (800-meter) and James Young (1500-meter). Later this month will also feature Rebels at national meets in Italy (Sintayehu Vissa; July 28-30), Spain (Mario Garcia Romo; July 28-30) and Ireland (Shane Bracken; July 29-30).

While specific qualifying procedures vary worldwide, owning the world qualifying standard alongside a high finish at a national meet or a high World Athletics ranking will put an athlete within good position to earn a spot to the world meet. The goal in Eugene for those 12 Rebels in the main senior meet isn’t just to be crowned a U.S. champion, but to own a qualifying standard and to nab one of the top-three spots in their respective events for a spot on Team USA.

This marks the 18th total time the U.S. Championships have been held at Hayward Field – the 11th-such time in a non-Olympic year. This is also the third U.S. meet held at Oregon after Hayward Field received extensive renovations immediately following the 2018 NCAA meet in preparation for what was originally supposed to be the 2021 World Athletics Championships (which were postponed to 2022 due to the global COVID-19 pandemic). Hayward Field has been the home of Oregon track & field since 1921, and has hosted numerous high-end competitions, including 18 NCAA Championship meets (1962, ’64, ’72, ’78, ’84, ’88, ’91, ’96, 2001, ’10, ’13, ’14, ’15, ’16, ’17, ’18, ’21, ‘22), 10 USA Track & Field Championships (1971, ’75, ‘86, ’93, ’99, 2001, ’09, ’11, ’15, ‘22), and seven U.S. Olympic Trials (1972, ’76, ’80, 2008, ’12, ’16, ‘21).

Ole Miss athletes have won 35 U.S. titles across both the indoor and outdoor seasons, with 21 coming outdoors and 18 of those outdoor champions coming since 2008.