Lady'Back volleyball hosts No. 10 LSU Wednesday

FAYETTTEVILLE — The University of Arkansas volleyball team faces one of the toughest challenges of the 2006 season hosting No. 10 LSU Wednesday in Southeastern Conference action in Barnhill Arena. The Lady Razorbacks are coming off a disappointing loss Sunday that saw the team even it’s league record to 3-3. Arkansas is 10-4 overall while LSU remains perfect in SEC play at 6-0 and 14-1 overall. "We’ve got a huge week coming up," said Arkansas head coach Chris Poole. "We are absolutely still in the hunt for the Western Division title, to do well in the SEC as a whole and to make the NCAA Tournament. We’re about half-way through the schedule and while we’re not where we want to be in some regards, we still okay." Arkansas runs into a very good LSU team ranked 10th in the country this week. LSU remains the lone undefeated team in the SEC and is most likely the best team in the league right now. The Tigers’ lone loss is a five-game thriller to second-ranked Penn State. The Tigers have won 12 in a row and are in the midst of one of the longest winning streaks in program history. Middles Lauren DeGiralamo and Melody Clark lead the team’s offense this year. DeGiralamo has 171 kills, 3.23 kills per game, is hitting .338 and has 97 blocks for a 1.83 block per game average. Clark checks in with 168 kills, 3.11 kpg, a 3.29 hitting percentage, 59 blocks and 1.09 bpg. Libero Kassi Mikulik leads the team with 240 digs and a 4.44 dig per game average. The Lady Razorbacks’ best defense against LSU might well be the play of the middles and libero. Redshirt freshman Destiny Clark leads the team and posted a school-record 18 blocks against Mississippi and junior Ashley Miller set a school record with 36 digs in the match. "Both Destiny and Ashley are playing well right now," said Poole. "The whole team is really eager to get back on the court and play. They were a bit frustrated after the loss (on Sunday). They see our potential and know that we haven’t played our best volleyball yet. We had a great practice Monday and are still playing with a lot of confidence." The Lady’Backs have historically played well against LSU and lead the all-time series 22-4 but LSU has won two of the last four meetings and continues to improve each season. Arkansas had a short turn-around after facing Mississippi Sunday. The Lady’Backs follow up the mid-week contest with a Friday match at Alabama. The match is televised by FSN and airs live at 6:00 p.m. central. For more information about Arkansas volleyball, please log on to LADYBACKS.COM.