Lady'Backs dominate Tigers in three set win at LSU

Jump to LSU box score BATON ROUGE, La. – The University of Arkansas volleyball team put together its most complete match of the 2004 season in a dominating Southeastern Conference win at Louisiana State in a mid-week tilt Tuesday. Arkansas evened its overall record to 10-10 and improved to 7-3 in the SEC with the 30-23, 30-19, 30-19 win over LSU. The Tigers fell to 11-9 overall and 3-7 in league play. The three-game win was just the second of the season for Arkansas, the first of which came against Georgia at home earlier this season. The Lady Razorbacks tallied double-digit block totals for the 13th time this season collecting 17.5 in the win to LSU’s six. Fort Smith, Ark., senior Jennifer Haaser paced Arkansas with a double-double of her own recording 10 kills and 10 blocks and hitting .368 for the match. Junior Karla Crose was also solid statistically hitting .500 with nine kills and five blocks while sophomore Denitza Koleva had eight kills and four blocks for Arkansas. Freshman Jessica Dorrell added six kills, hit .556 and had three blocks. “This was the best all around match of the year,” said Arkansas head coach Chris Poole. “We’ve seen glimpses of it in matches all season but we put a complete game together tonight. I’m really proud of the team that they were able to do that on the road against a quality opponent just shows them that their hard work is paying off.” Arkansas spent much of the first game feeling out LSU in a close back-and-forth battle through the first 15 points. The Lady’Backs then exploded hitting .289 in the frame with 19 kills, five from Crose. The block was slow to start for Arkansas as the Lady’Backs tallied just two in the first frame. But it would be the block that paced the Lady’Backs in the second game with Arkansas on the board with eight put-backs, sometimes throwing three blockers to the net against LSU. Arkansas’ hitting was also efficient in the second frame with the Lady’Backs recording a .250 hitting performance with 12 team kills. The Lady’Backs started game two with an ace serve from freshman setter Amanda Eskridge and never trailed in the frame leading by as many at 14, 26-12, late in the game. LSU head coach Fran Flory shook up the Tiger lineup to start game three starting a new setter and libero but the changes only seemed to rattle LSU as Arkansas opened a 6-1 forcing a Tiger timeout. LSU responded with a mini-run and closed within a pair but the Lady’Backs stepped up their offense fending off the Tiger attack. “We made good adjustments,” said Poole. “They threw some different looks at us and we did what we needed to in order to maintain the lead. I was very pleased with our effort tonight. I told the team to approach game three like it was the start of the match not like we had a 2-0 lead. I tried to stress that we needed to come out aggressive and we did that. We took care of the ball on our side of the net and got a quality win.” The Lady Razorbacks continue SEC action in Barnhill Arena Friday hosting Alabama at 7:00 p.m., in a contest that could decide the Western Division title. The Lady’Backs welcome Auburn Sunday at 1:30 p.m. “Friday’s match (against Alabama) is a big one,” said Poole. “We really need the fans and a home court advantage. We are playing to win the SEC Western Division title and we want to defend that on our court.” For more information and tickets please call the Lady Razorback Ticket Office at 57-LBACK or log on to www.ladybacks.com.