Arkansas Volleyball Announces Spring Slate
Coming off a historic 2023 season, the Arkansas volleyball team will have a few early opportunities to see what the 2024 squad has in store as the Razorbacks are set to compete in four spring competitions.
The Razorbacks will host their only spring home match on Saturday, March 9 against Louisiana-Monroe at Barnhill Arena. Action starts at 3 p.m. CT and the event is free and open to the public.
Arkansas’ second March match-up has the Hogs heading south as they take on the UAFS Lions in Fort Smith on Thursday, March 28.
The Hogs have two tournaments on deck in April: The first hosted by UMKC in Kansas City, Mo., on Saturday, April 6, and the second at Missouri State the following week on Saturday, April 13 in Springfield, Mo.
Arkansas finished the 2023 slate in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, the best finish in program history. The Hogs had a 28-6 record, their third straight 20-win season under head coach Jason Watson, and the most wins since 1999. They matched their highest ranking ever in the final coaches poll of the season at No. 8.
While the Hogs lost three key hitters to graduation, they return All-SEC, All-South Region and All-American honorable mention setter Hannah Hogue for her senior season in 2024. The Fort Smith native was named SEC Setter of the Week five times throughout the course of the fall and finished third in the conference in assists per set with 11.13, also good for sixth nationally. Her 1,413 total assists were the second-most by any Division I setter, the seventh-most in a single season in Arkansas history, and most by any Razorback setter since 2003.
Arkansas also returns key starters on defense in libero Courtney Jackson – a 2021 All-SEC Freshman Team honoree – and middle blockers Zoi Evans and Sania Petties, who will all be seniors this season.
The Hogs get an early boost this spring as new additions Romani Thurman and Kayla Robertson are already on campus and ready to compete. Thurman is a transfer outside hitter from UNC, where she played her freshman season. As a rookie, Thurman had 174 kills in 24 matches, good for third on the team. She also made a big impact defensively with 62 blocks, third-most for the Tar Heels. Thurman is a Little Rock native and the daughter of Scotty Thurman, who won a national championship with Arkansas men’s basketball in 1994 as a player and was an assistant coach for the Hogs 2016-2019.
Robertson, an outside hitter, is an early enrollee for the 2024 freshman class. She played with High Performance STL at the club level and prep at Timberland High School. Robertson led the T-Wolves in kills (382) and hitting percentage (.253) in 2023, was named the GAC South Player of the Year and First Team All-Conference. It was the second consecutive year she garnered All-Conference honors, and was also All-District in 2022. As a member of High Performance STL, Robertson was named to the AVCA Phenom List in 2022, and was also on the Junior Volleyball Association Class of 2024 Watchlist in 2022.
More Information
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