Arkansas Falls in Three to No. 2 Kentucky

While the Hogs showed some fight in their regular season finale at No. 2 Kentucky, they ultimately fell in a sweep at the hands of the Wildcats (16-25, 20-25, 12-25) as they cruised to their ninth straight outright SEC title.

Graduate Jada Lawson had a great day despite the result with her second double-double in three outings. She posted 14 kills and 10 digs, both team highs on the day. She hit .379 on the day with just three errors on 29 swings, a new personal high clip.

Arkansas finishes the regular season with a 5-21 record, 1-14 in conference play.

Set 1

The two teams exchanged points early until Kentucky rattled off a 6-1 run that doubled the Wildcat lead to 10-5. Kentucky maintained the pace after that, but Arkansas kept pushing and three kills, two from Lawson and one from Thurman, made it 14-11. A 4-0 run by the home team not long after grew the Wildcat advantage to 19-12, and Arkansas struggled to generate the run needed to make a worthwhile comeback. The Hogs added four more points, but Kentucky closed It out 25-16 for a 1-0 lead in the match.

Set 2

It was a back-and-forth battle to start the second set, but a big block by Thurman and Evans and an ace from Remensperger gave Arkansas a narrow 8-7 lead. It didn’t last long though as the Wildcats went on a 5-1 run that put them up 12-9. The Razorbacks stayed close, but Kentucky held a 15-12 lead at the media break. The Wildcats then got the next four straight and grew the advantage to seven, The Hogs settled in slightly and pushed it to 20 points off a kill from Lawson, but the Wildcats went the distance and won 25-20.

Set 3

The first few points of the third set were close, but the Razorbacks got into a dangerous Kentucky service run by Brooklyn DeLeye that saw seven straight for the Wildcats and put them up 11-4 early. While Arkansas found a way to get going eventually, it was a deep hole to dig out of and Kentucky stayed hot to push it to 20-12, at which point Arkansas took a timeout. It did nothing to calm the Wildcats down as they scored five unanswered out of the break, cruising to a 25-12 set three victory for the match sweep.

Up Next

Arkansas will appear in the Allstate SEC Volleyball Tournament next week in Savannah, Ga. The event is returning after a 20-year hiatus. The Hogs will be seeded No. 16, and should face No. 9 Oklahoma in the opening match of the tournament on Friday, Nov. 21 at 11 a.m. CT on SEC Network.

More Information

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