OXFORD, Miss. – Heading back to the newly-renovated Gillom Center this year, Ole Miss volleyball head coach Steven McRoberts announced the team’s 2017 schedule, which includes two home tournaments, nine home Southeastern Conference matches and eight matches against 2016 NCAA Tournament teams.

Schedule at a glance…
• Ole Miss will face six teams who made the NCAA Tournament last year, including SEC Champion Missouri and Texas A&M twice.
• Ole Miss will open the season hosting the Rebel Invitational Aug. 25-27.  Teams include Louisiana Tech, North Dakota (2016 NCAA participant), Chattanooga and Florida A&M.
• Prior to the football team’s home game against UT Martin, the Rebels will host the Rebel Classic Sept. 7-8 with Austin Peay, Northwestern State and Mercer coming to Oxford.
• Other non-conference tournaments include a short drive to Jonesboro, Arkansas for the Arkansas State Tournament Sept. 1-2 featuring 2016 NCAA Tournament team SMU. The Rebels will round out the non-conference schedule with a trip to the most magical place on earth, Orlando, Florida for the UCF Tournament Sept. 16-17.
• In between the final two tournaments, the Rebels will travel to Greely, Colorado for a mid-week match at Northern Colorado on Sept. 12.
• SEC home matches include Auburn (Sept. 22), Alabama (Sept. 24), Georgia (Oct. 1), Florida (Oct. 13), Missouri (Oct. 25), Arkansas (Oct. 29), Mississippi State (Nov. 5), Texas A&M (Nov. 12) and South Carolina (Nov. 22).
• The Rebels will play six conference foes twice, traveling to Mississippi State (Sept. 27), Arkansas (Oct. 6), Missouri (Oct. 8), South Carolina (Oct. 15), Texas A&M (Oct. 22) and Georgia (Nov. 10). Other road matches include LSU (Oct. 18), Tennessee (Nov. 17) and Kentucky (Nov. 19).

The Rebels return four starters from 2016, including outside hitters Kate Gibson and Lexi Thompson, who are poised to become the first Ole Miss members of the 1,000/1,000 club in the rally scoring era. Thompson and Gibson need 82 and 46 digs, respectively, to become the newest members of the exclusive club. Both players surpassed 1,000 kills last year, and battled it out until the end for the single-season kills record.

The full TV schedule will be released later this summer to include game times and TV designations. All home games not on TV will be available on SEC Network + via WatchESPN and the ESPN app.