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Julia Dyess, who began playing volleyball in the seventh grade, signed with the Ole Miss Volleyball team in 2020 as an outside hitter. After four years with the Rebels, she is in her senior season and looking to go out with a bang.
Before coming to Ole Miss, Dyess had an illustrious high school career at Hartfield Academy in Flowood, Miss., close to her hometown of Brandon, Miss. She also played club volleyball for Infinity Volleyball.
During her time at Hartfield Academy, Dyess was ranked as a top 150 prospect on PrepVolleyBall.com, named the 2018 Midsouth Association of Independent Schools Player of the Year and recognized as an All-MAIS Player from 2018-2020.
During her senior year at Hartfield Academy, Dyess had 699 digs — the second best in school history — and a .429 hitting percentage.
Once at the university, Dyess appeared in the first 12 matches of the season, helping the Rebels secure their second-best season start in program history, going 12-0, before suffering a season ending injury in the Rebels’ victory over South Carolina.
In her first 12 matches, Dyess had 28 digs, 46 kills and three blocks. She hit a career high of 11 kills and hit a .381 clip in her first start for the Rebels against Alabama A&M. With the help from Dyess, the team made the NCAA tournament for the first time in 11 years.
Dyess then returned for her sophomore season at Ole Miss in 2022 and tallied 59 kills in 22 games.
The star athlete made an appearance in all 29 of the Rebels’ matches in 2023, starting in 21 of them and playing in 92 of the Rebels’ 111 set total. Throughout her junior year she took 697 swings, the second most on the team, averaged 2.41 kills and 2.81 points per set and recorded at least 10 kills in nine total matches. Dyess was the only player on the Ole Miss team to record a 20 kill game.
In the Rebels’ season opener against St. John’s University, Dyess recorded a career-high five blocks and posted a career best .438 hitting percentage in the match against Tennessee State. Dyess played one of the best matches of her career against LSU, totaling a career high 22 kills with a .310 hitting percentage in the Rebels’ 3-2 victory.
So far this season, Dyess and the Rebels are 12-3. She scored 12 digs in the Rebels’ loss to Arkansas and another 12 kills and 12 digs in the Rebels’ 3-1 win over LSU.
The Rebels will travel to Athens to face Georgia on Oct. 13.
