Arkansas drops final volleyball match of the 2007 season

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FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas seniors Kelli Cole, Jessica Dorrell and Ashley Miller concluded their Lady Razorback careers suffering a five-game loss to Connecticut in the final match of the 2007 season in Barnhill Arena Saturday.

Arkansas’ 30-32, 31-29, 30-25, 27-30, 11-15 loss drops the Lady’Backs to 12-19 overall. UConn concluded its season with a 19-11 record.

"It was another close match," said Arkansas head coach Chris Poole. "We just didn’t have enough offense again today and that’s something we have to correct before next year."

Arkansas hit just .176 for the match allowing UConn to hit .232 in the win. Dorrell paced Arkansas with 20 kills but it was junior Christina Lawrence who carried the offense with 16 kills and a team-best .371 hitting percentage. Freshman Sarah Freudenrich added 13 kills and hit .250 while freshman Heather Royal tallied 12 kills and 11 digs in the loss. Miller finished with 31 digs and sophomore Catherine Fowler led the blocking effort with eight total blocks.

Dorrell finishes her career ranked seventh for career kills with 1,310. The Aledo, Texas, native became just the 12th player in school history to reach her 1,000th-kill this year and finishes her career ranked in the top 15 in 11 statistical categories.

Miller also broke Arkansas’ records and ends her career holding every dig record in the books. She broke the single-season digs record in the final match ending her season with 570 digs. She also holds the Arkansas and Southeastern Conference career digs record with 2,126.

The loss ends an up-and-down season for the Lady Razorbacks. Arkansas began the year 6-1 but then suffered a school-record eight match losing streak. The Lady’Backs rebounded winning four of their next five including a thrilling five-game win over fifth-ranked Florida in Barnhill.

The Lady Razorbacks earned three SEC weekly honors and Dorrell earned selection to the SEC second-team. Freudenrich was selected to the league’s all-freshman team and Miller was honored on the SEC Community Service team.

Dorrell also earned ESPN The Magazine academic second-team honors this season.

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