Midweek brings Ole Miss to Barnhill

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The University of Arkansas volleyball team will close out its recent home stand with an Oct. 14 matchup with Ole Miss. First serve of the midweek contest is scheduled for 7 p.m. (CT) at Barnhill Arena. The Razorbacks lead the all-times series with Ole Miss, 23-7, but have lost the previous six meetings, including a five-set battle in Fayetteville in the 2008 season finale.Arkansas (10-9, 4-4 SEC) enters the match against the Rebels off a sweep of its weekend matches against Alabama and Mississippi State. The Razorbacks rallied past the Crimson Tide in five sets and, closed the weekend, with a four-set victory over the Bulldogs. Jasmine Norton was named Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week for the third time this season following a pair of double-double performances.Norton is fourth in the SEC with a team-leading 3.63 kills per set, up to 3.97 during the conference season. In Arkansas’ last four matches, all of which Norton recorded a double-double, she is averaging 18 kills and 12.5 digs per outing. Lindsay Scanlan has moved into third in the conference with 10.24 assists per set. The senior setter dished out a career-high 60 assists in the Razorbacks’ win over Alabama.In the middle, Amanda Anderson leads Arkansas with her .336 hitting percentage, good for seventh in the conference. She tallied a career-high 14 kills at a .444 hitting clip against Mississippi State. The Razorbacks also got a lift off the bench from Kendall Cleveland who posted 12 and 14 kills against Alabama and Mississippi State, respectively. Entering the match, her previous career high was three.Defensively, libero Phoebe Bautista is averaging 4.13 digs per set, the fifth-best mark in the SEC. Against the Crimson Tide, Bautista totaled 27 digs, the second-best performance during her career. She followed that effort with 18 digs against MSU. In conference matches, Bautista is averaging 4.41 digs per set. At the net, Anderson and Janeliss Torres-Lopez carry 1.00 and 0.86 blocks per set, respectively.Ole Miss (7-11, 1-7 SEC) picked up its first win of the SEC season in its last outing, a 3-2 victory over Alabama. The Rebels rallied after losing the first two sets to complete the comeback. Katie Norris leads the Ole Miss attack with 3.81 kills per set, the third-best average in the conference. She has two of the top-five hitting performances by an SEC player this season. Miranda Kitts and Regina Thomas are tied for eighth in the SEC with 1.03 blocks per set.The Arkansas-Ole Miss match will be broadcast on KXUA 88.3 FM in Fayetteville. After Wednesday’s contest, the Razorbacks travel to Baton Rouge, La., for an Oct. 16 meeting with LSU at the Pete Maravich Center. Log on to ArkansasRazorbacks.com for more information.