Lady'Backs drop heart-breaker in Knoxville

Jump to Tennessee box score KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — University of Arkansas senior Denitza Koleva posted a season-best 18 kills but couldn’t lift the Lady Razorbacks to a Southeastern Conference win over No. 13 Tennessee in Knoxville, Sunday. The Lady Razorbacks (7-3, 0-2 SEC) dropped the heart-breaker 30-32, 28-30, 30-24, 24-30 to the No. 13th-ranked Lady Vols who improve to 9-2 overall and 1-1 in the SEC. Although the only stat that matters is the final score, Arkansas won the statistics battle for the match out-hitting Tennessee .307 to .261 and out-digging the Lady Vols 58-56. In addition to Koleva’s solid performance, senior Amy Allison added a season-best 15 kill and hit .500 while sophomore Christina Lawrence tallied 11 kills and hit .455 in the loss. Junior Jessica Dorrell was also in double-figure kills with 10 for Arkansas. The first game saw Arkansas lead by six points late, 25-19, but Tennessee, playing in front of their rowdy home crowd, chipped away at the lead until tying the game at 29 on an ace serve. The teams exchanged points until the Lady Vols got a kill from Sarah Blum and took advantage of a rare Arkansas hitting error to win the first game. Arkansas hit a blistering .484 with 19 kills and just four errors in the first frame while Tennessee hit at a ..405 clip with 21 kills and just six errors. The Lady’Backs could have easily laid down in the second game after dropping the heart-breaker in the first game but instead Arkansas came out on fire in game two. It was a back-and-forth battle with eight ties and five lead changes in the second frame but again Tennessee prevailed. Arkansas slipped out to a two-point lead late, 23-21, but Tennessee just wouldn’t go away. The Lady Vols were able to piece together a couple of mini-runs with two and three points while the Arkansas offense couldn’t finish the game. The game was tied at 25 but Tennessee took the lead going on to the win. The Lady’Backs out-hit Tennessee for the second time hitting .325 in game two while the Lady Vols hit just .205 in game two. Arkansas dominated the third game hitting .333 and holding Tennessee to a .143 mark. Arkansas jumped into the lead at 6-5 and, although there were six lead changes in the third stanza, the Lady’Backs lead was never in doubt. As teams took the court in the fourth game it was still anyone’s to win and the score was tied four times and there was one lead change in the frame. Tennessee grabbed the lead early and never surrendered it despite a healthy threat from Arkansas late in the game. Arkansas returns home next weekend as SEC action continues. The Lady Razorbacks host Georgia Friday, Sept. 22 at 7:00 p.m., followed by South Carolina Sunday, Sept. 24 at 1:30 p.m., as they begin a five-match home stand. For more information about Arkansas volleyball or for tickets please call the Lady Razorback Ticket Office at 57-LBACK or log on to LADYBACKS.COM.