Seniors spark Arkansas win Sunday

Jump to Alabama box FAYETTEVILLE – Seniors Amy Allison, Kele Brewer and Denitza Koleva donned the Cardinal and White for their final home regular season match getting a three-game win over Alabama in Southeastern Conference volleyball action Sunday in Barnhill Arena. Arkansas improved to 16-10 overall and evened its SEC record to 9-9 with the 30-28, 30-25, 30-26 win over Alabama (15-12, 10-8 SEC) avenging an earlier season loss to the Crimson Tide. Koleva paced all hitters in the match with 18 kills. She hit .333 with seven digs. Allison added seven kills and three blocks. Brewer started but was limited due to an injury. Junior Jessica Dorrell tallied nine kills and 12 digs for Arkansas while junior libero Ashley Miller paced the team with 15 digs in the win. Arkansas was solid in the first game putting together a slow and methodical attack for the two-point win. The entire game was a back-and-forth battle with neither team taking more than a three-point lead. Poole took his final timeout with the score knotted at 26. The teams broke from the huddle exchanging service errors and the score remained tied. Bama got an ace but a kill from Arkansas’ Koleva again evened the score, this time at 28-all. Allison teamed with freshman Catherine Fowler for a big block, one of two for the game, giving the Lady’Backs the advantage. Allison finished off the next point with a kill down the right sideline ending a long rally by both teams giving Arkansas the win. Game two played out nearly the same as the first in the tightly contested game. The sideout battle raged until the teams were deadlocked at 22. Koleva ripped a rocket ace serve the fired up the crowd and the Lady’Backs sparking Arkansas to a 6-2 run to close the game. Arkansas came out of the 10-minute between game break starting the third frame on fire. The Lady’Backs jumped out to a 9-4 lead forcing Bama to call the first of two timeouts. The Crimson Tide was able to close the gap and although the score was tied seven times in the game, Arkansas hung on for the win using a 3-0 burst at the end of the frame closing it out. The Lady’Backs out-hit Alabama .233 to .155 allowing only one Crimson Tide player, Crystal Hudson, to reach double-digit kills. She finished with 14. The Lady Razorbacks continue SEC action on the road at Mississippi Nov. 17, followed by a match at Mississippi State No. 19, as the regular season comes to a close. For more information about Arkansas volleyball, please log on to LADYBACKS.COM.