Arkansas Volleyball Fact Sheet #6

Arkansas continues SEC play this week

The Lady Razorbacks continue the Southeastern Conference road stand this week traveling to Kentucky Friday, Sept. 28, and Tennessee Sunday, Sept. 30. It concludes one of two four-match road stands for Arkansas this year. The Lady Razorbacks have four on the road in early November traveling to South Carolina, Florida, Auburn and Georgia Nov. 2-11.

Seven in a row

Arkansas has lost seven contests in a row making it the longest losing streak in school history. It betters last year’s five-match skid that ran from Oct. 1-Oct. 15. Those losses were all conference matches. Arkansas has lost four consecutive SEC matches this year.

Non-Conference schedule over – almost

Arkansas’ 2007 non-conference schedule seemed to fly by. The Lady Razorbacks played to a 6-4 non-conference mark. After starting the year 6-1, Arkansas dropped its last three non-SEC matches. The Lady’Backs have one more non-conference match remaining during the regular season. Arkansas hosts Connecticut Nov. 24, prior to the start of the NCAA Tournament.

Dorrell reaches 1,000

Senior Jessica Dorrell became the 12th player in Arkansas history to record her career 1,000th kill. The Aledo, Texas, senior’s fourth kill of the match at Mississippi State was the 1,000th. She enters the Kentucky weekend with 1,024 kills and climbing. Junior Christina Lawrence is the only other current Lady Razorback in the top 20 for career kills. Lawrence has 624 kills heading into the Kentucky/Tennessee weekend.

Dorrell leads Arkansas

Jessica Dorrell leads the Lady Razorbacks in kills per game (4.33), kills (221), points scores (260.0) and points per game (5.10) this year.

Also a good number

Arkansas 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, are approaching, and surpassing, 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 six setters have 1,000 or more assists. Martin slid over 1,000 career assists during the Northern Iowa match and has 1,075 entering the Kentucky/Tennessee weekend. Scanlan stands at 971, just 29 the 1,000 mark.

Arkansas against Kentucky

Eight current Lady Razorbacks have played against Kentucky during their careers. Notably, Jessica Dorrell is hitting .221 with 48 kills and 2.0 kills per game against the Wildcats. Christina Lawrence is hitting .234 with 58 kills and a 3.05 kpg average. Ashley Miller averages 5.0 digs per game with 120 total for Arkansas.

Arkansas against Tennessee

Jessica Dorrell is hitting .274 lifetime against Tennessee with 37 total kills. Christina Lawrence is hitting .333 with 21 kills and Ashley Miller is averaging 3.75 digs per game with 60 total digs in three seasons against Tennessee.

Numbers not that far off

Arkansas’ numbers might seem a bit low this year but the Lady Razorbacks’ stats are similar to last year’s digits. For example, Arkansas hit just .216 as a team in 2006, but the Lady’Backs are hitting .226 at this point of 2007. Arkansas’ kills per game are down a bit – 15.09 in 2006 compared to 14.84 this year – but the service aces are way up – 1.98 in 2007 compared to 1.31 in 2006. Here’s a closer look:

G K KPG E TA % A APG SA SE SAPG RE D DPG BS BA TB BPG BE BHE PTS

2006 107 1615 15.09 685 4315 .216 1451 13.56 140 205 1.31 158 1719 16.07 50 506 303.0 2.83 82 83 2058.0

2007 51 757 14.84 319 1937 .226 688 13.49 101 85 1.98 100 719 14.10 22 224 134.0 2.63 38 26 992.0

Arkansas’ 2007 season bests

As the season continues, Arkansas has established its season-bests. The season-best for kills is 80 in the five-game win over Pepperdine. Arkansas also recorded 198 total attempts and 72 assists against Pepperdine as well. The season-best for aces is 19 (NSU), digs is 78 (FSU) and blocks is 15.0 (3x, FSU). Arkansas is better statistically in nearly every category than their opponents this year as well. Here’s a look at the team numbers.

G K KPG E TA % A APG SA SE SAPG RE D DPG BS BA TB BPG BE BHE PTS

AR 45 671 14.91 287 1696 .226 608 13.51 99 68 2.20 86 623 13.84 18 200 118.0 2.62 33 19 888.0

Opp 45 669 14.87 297 1726 .216 628 13.96 86 105 1.91 99 653 14.51 14 158 93.0 2.07 31 16 848.0

Arkansas is the SEC’s odd team out

The 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 reminder

The 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.

Poole returns for 14th season

Arkansas head coach Chris Poole enters his 14th season at the helm of the Lady Razorbacks. Poole is the only coach Arkansas has ever known and he has guided the Lady’Backs to a 309-150 (through 9/24/07) record during his tenure. Holly Watts returns has Poole’s associate head coach and the Lady’Backs welcome the addition of Gokhan Yilmaz who joins the team as an assistant coach this fall.

Arkansas picks up TV match

Although the Lady Razorbacks were not selected for an SEC match of the week, Arkansas is still making a television appearance. Sun Sports will pick up the Fayetteville match between the Lady Razorbacks and Florida. More details will follow on the times and talent.

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.

Lady’Backs tabbed third in SEC West

Arkansas was picked to finish third in the Southeastern Conference’s Western Division the league office announced Tuesday, Aug. 14. Arkansas finished the year 16-13 last year and made its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance in 2006. The Lady’Backs return 10 players from last year’s team and welcome six newcomers for the 2007 season.

Western Points Eastern Points

Alabama 14 Florida 10

LSU 17 Kentucky 22

ARKANSAS 28 Tennessee 25

Ole Miss 36 Georgia 41

Auburn 47 South Carolina 42

Miss State 53