Volleyball Set for SEC Home Opener vs. #9 Florida
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – After a two-week road swing, the University of Arkansas volleyball team returns to Barnhill Arena Sunday for its SEC home opener against No. 9 Florida with first serve scheduled for 3 p.m. (CT). Winners of four in a row, the Razorbacks enter the match with a 12-2 overall record and 2-0 mark in conference play.
Individual match tickets are $5 at the Barnhill Arena ticket window one hour prior to each match while UA students (with valid ID) and fans 17 years and younger receive free admission. Students are asked to use the street-level entrance along Stadium Drive. Among Sunday’s promotions, free pizza will be provided to students while the first 100 students will receive a free limited edition Los Razorbacks t-shirt. Click HERE for a full list of this weekend’s promotions.
As part of its four-match win streak, Arkansas opened SEC play last week with a pair of road wins at LSU and Texas A&M to open league play with a 2-0 record for the third-consecutive year. On the heels of their current hot streak, the Razorbacks are receiving 56 votes in this week’s AVCA coaches’ poll and sit just one spot out of the top 25. For just the sixth time in program history, and for the first time since 2002, Arkansas won 10 matches in one month with its 10-1 tally in September.
The Razorback duo of Pilar Victoria and Adrien Wohlschlaeger collected SEC weekly accolades after impressive starts to the conference season. Victoria earned Player of the Week honors after averaging 5.56 kills per set, 3.11 digs per set and 6.11 points per set in wins at LSU and Texas A&M, while Wohlschlaeger earned her second Setter of the Week selection behind 12.67 assists per set with the help of a career-high 65 assists against LSU.
Entering the week, Arkansas ranks 15th in the NCAA with its .278 hitting percentage, tied for 21st with 13.27 assists per set and 41st in the country with 13.85 kills per set. Individually, Victoria is now tied for 14th in the NCAA with 4.50 kills per set and 18th among the nation’s attackers with 5.04 points per set. Wohlschlaeger and Chanell Clark-Bibbs are both 18th in the country in separate categories at 11.37 assists per set and a .422 hitting percentage, respectively.
Arkansas will be playing in front of its home fans for the first time since winning the Razorback Invitational title on Sept. 12 with a straight-set win over UT Arlington. The team is 5-1 on its home court this season and have already played in front of the seventh- and eighth-largest home crowds in program history this year. Nine of the top 10 crowds at Barnhill Arena have come since the start of the 2010 season.
This will be the first of two meetings between Arkansas and Florida (9-3, 1-2 SEC) in a 20-day span; the teams will meet again Oct. 23 in Gainesville. Sunday’s match will be nationally televised on the SEC Network. Melissa Lee and Jennifer Hoffman will handle the play-by-play and color commentary duties, respectively. The match will also be available online at SECNetwork.com, ESPN3.com or through the WatchESPN app.
For more information about Arkansas volleyball, follow @RazorbackVB on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter.
