Dorrell Freudenrich honored by SEC

FAYETTEVILLE — University of Arkansas senior Jessica Dorrell and freshman Sarah Freudenrich were honored by the Southeastern Conference with year-end honors the league office announced today.

Dorrell, a 6-0 outside hitter from Aledo, Texas, earned second-team all-SEC honors while Freudenrich, a 6-4 middle blocker from Broken Arrow, Okla., earned an all-freshman team selection.

"I couldn’t be more proud of either of these players," said Arkansas head coach Chris Poole. "Both honors are well deserved."

Dorrell capped off her SEC career last weekend finishing the season with 319 kills, a team-best 4.04 kills per game, 28 assists, 24 service aces, 201 digs and 57 total blocks. She ranked among the SEC leaders in kills per game and service aces the entire season.

The honor is the second league award for Dorrell. She earned selection to the all-SEC freshman team in 2004. In addition, she was awarded SEC weekly honors twice in 2007.

Dorrell became the 12th player in school history to reach 1,000 career kills and has since moved into the ninth spot. She ranks in 11 of Arkansas’ career statistical categories.

"I’m really proud of Jess and how hard she worked in the off-season to prepare for her senior year," said Poole. "This was a tough year for our team with all the injuries, youth and inexperience; however, Jess was a big bright spot and continued to be a great leader for our program on and off the court."

Freudenrich expected to redshirt the 2007 season using it as a training year but injury to others forced her into the Lady’Back line up from the first meet of the year.

She finished the year with 137 kills in SEC matches, hitting .250 with 23 digs and a team-best 120 total blocks for a 1.52 block per game average. Freudenrich was ranked in the top 20 in the nation for blocking for much of the season and already finds her name sprinkled throughout the Arkansas blocking records.

She is the seventh Lady Razorback selected to the all-SEC freshman team since the award’s inception in 2003.

Sarah was a great surprise for us this season and has a very bright future ahead," said Poole. "She is one of three freshmen that got a lot of playing time this season and definitely made the most of that experience. Sarah works hard and takes her responsibility on the court very seriously. We are very excited about her future as a dominant middle for our program."

Arkansas concludes the 2007 season Saturday hosting Connecticut in a non-conference match in Barnhill Arena. The match begins at 1:30 p.m. and tickets are available by calling the Razorback Ticket Office at 57-LBACK or by logging on to LADYBACKS.COM.