Arkansas Volleyball Fact Sheet #12

Arkansas hits the roadThe Lady Razorbacks continue on the road as Southeastern Conference play winds down. It is the second of consecutive SEC road weekends as the Lady’Backs make their way to Auburn and Georgia for the last regular season road trip Nov. 9 and 11, respectively.
Final home standAs noted above, the season is quickly winding down. Arkansas follows up back-to-back road weekends with a final SEC home weekend Nov. 16 and 18, hosting Tennessee and Kentucky, respectively. Arkansas breaks from SEC action hosting Connecticut in the final regular season match of the year Nov. 24 at 1:30 p.m.
Streaky Lady’BacksThe 2007 season has been one of streaks. Arkansas opened the year with a loss but then won six in a row, rolling through much of the non-conference schedule. Next, Arkansas went on an eight-match losing streak – the longest in school history. The Lady’Backs then won four of its next five before dropping six in a row.
Seniors winding downArkansas has three seniors whose careers in the Cardinal and White are coming to a close. They are Kelli Cole, Jessica Dorrell and Ashley Miller. Cole, a role player from Russellville, Ark., has seen her playing time increase over her career and now is a regular in the defensive lineup for Arkansas. Dorrell, an Aledo, Texas, native, has started/played nearly every match over her four-year career and is in the top 15 in nearly every statistical career category. Miller, a Vacaville, Calif., libero, holds all of Arkansas’ digs records and is fast approaching the SEC record as well.
More about DorrellThis week (Nov. 5), Dorrell ranks in the top 15 in 11 career categories. The Aledo, Texas, native moved to 10th in kills (1221), 15th in kills per game (2.64), eighth in total attempts (3003), 10th in service aces (77), 10th in service attempts (923), eighth in block assists (385) and total blocks (397), ninth in total points (1502.5), 14th in points per game (3.25), 10th in games played (462) and 11th in matches played (121).
Miller owns Arkansas digs recordSenior Ashley Miller holds the Arkansas record for digs with 2004 (through 11-5) and is the only player in school history with more than 2000.. In fact, she holds all of Arkansas’ dig records. Miller has the match record with 36 against Ole Miss (10-1-06), single season with 548 (2005), career with 2004 and climbing, career digs per game with 4.36 (through 11-5-07) and was the digs per game leader in 2004, 2005 and 2006.But where do those numbers rank in the NCAA? The single-match record for digs is 62 (Jessica Strama, McNeese St. vs. Texas-Arlington, Oct. 13, 2006); the single-season record under the current scoring system is 924 (Paula Gentil, Minnesota, 2004 [138 games]); the career record is 2,791 (Paula Gentil, Minnesota, 2002-05 [506 games]; season digs per game is 7.68 (Amanda McCormick, Ball St., 2006 [852 digs in 111 games]) and career 5.80 (Amanda McCormick, Nebraska/Ball St., 2003-04; 05-06 [2,297 digs in 396 games)].
Miller sneaks up on SEC recordIn addition to the Arkansas records, Miller is sneaking up on the SEC record for digs as well. The current mark of 2037 is held by Kentucky’s Jenni Casper (2003-06). Miller is 33 digs from tying that mark. Arkansas has five matches remaining and if all go the minimum three games (15 games) Miller could break the mark at her current pace. She is averaging 4.67 dpg and that multiplied by the 15 games would give her about 70 more digs – well over the SEC record.
Setters move up on career listsArkansas has used two setters to run the offense for several seasons and not since the first four years of the program have the Lady Razorbacks had a setter who set nearly every ball for four seasons (Tina Rico). That being said, reaching statistical milestones as a setter is difficult when you split time. Both of Arkansas current setters, Nicole Martin and Lindsay Scanlan, have surpassed, the 1,000-assist milestone. Although no where near the record of 5,886 assists held by Rico, 1,000 is still a good number. In fact, only seven setters have 1,000 or more assists. Martin slid over 1,000 career assists during the Northern Iowa match and has 1,377 while Scanlan stands at 1,260.
Arkansas in the SEC stats – SEC-Only matchesThe Lady’Backs’ 4-12 mark in the SEC, not surprisingly, finds the team at the bottom of most of the SEC statistics as well. Here’s a look at where Arkansas ranks: ninth for hitting percentage (.177); eighth in opponent hitting percentage (.232); ninth in assists (13.26), ninth in kills (14.34); ninth in service aces (1.07); and 10th in digs (15.77). Arkansas is fourth overall in blocks with a 3.02 block per game average.
Arkansas in the SEC stats – All matchesArkansas’ numbers are a bit better in all matches (conference and non-conference). The Lady’Backs are eighth in hitting percentage (.201); ninth in assists (13.41); 10th in opponent hitting percentage (.224); eighth in kills (14.67); tied for seventh in service aces (1.55) and 11th in digs (14.84). The Lady’Backs are fourth in all-match blocks with a 2.89 block per game average.
Freudenrich tops in the SECDespite Arkansas’ win-loss woes, freshman Sarah Freudenrich is making a name for herself. The Broken Arrow, Okla., native ranks second in the SEC (in SEC-only matches) for blocks per game with a 1.56 bpg average. Freudenrich has 12 solos and 83 block assists for 95.0 total blocks this year. Freudenrich is third in all matches averaging 1.47 blocks per game with 22 solos and 124 assists for 146.0 total blocks.
Dorrell ranks in kills per gameSenior Jessica Dorrell finds herself ranked fourth this week in kills per game. The Aledo, Texas, native is averaging 4.10 kills per game in all matches. Dorrell ranks third in SEC-only contests with 4.22 kpg this year. Dorrell is tied for seventh overall in SEC-only matches with 0.34 service aces per game.
Miller ranks in digs per gameSenior Ashley Miller leads Arkansas in digs and ranks seventh in the SEC for digs per game. The Vacaville, Calif., native is averaging 4.69 dpg with 286 digs in SEC only matches. Miller ranks sixth in all matches as well averaging 4.67 dpg with 421 total digs this year.
Arkansas is the SEC’s odd team outThe SEC has 11 teams that sponsor volleyball (Vanderbilt does not have a team). Each year there is one team who does not rotate through the conference schedule with a travel partner. This year, that team is Arkansas. As a result, the Lady Razorbacks do not play a mid-week conference match. In fact, Arkansas has only one match this year that does not fall on a weekend and that is a Tuesday match against Oral Roberts Aug. 28. It also means that instead of facing Mississippi and Mississippi State in the same weekend or Alabama and Auburn, the schedule is much more varied – and travel is much more interesting.
Another SEC reminderThe SEC eliminated the conference tournament last year instead opting for a double-round robin format in which teams play each other twice during the course of the season. That format continues for the 2007 season.
Can I get on the internet please?Every Lady Razorback volleyball match will be carried on the internet in some capacity this year. Every Lady Razorback home match will have live stats, a live audio broadcast and a live video broadcast of the event. Fans can find those at LADYBACKS.COM. All road SEC matches will have audio on LADYBACKS.COM and most will have live stats on either the host site or LADYBACKS.COM. The radio broadcasts for all road SEC matches can also be heard in the Fayetteville area on KXUA, 88.3 FM.