Hogs Sweep Tigers at Home
The Razorbacks returned to Barnhill Arena on Wednesday for a midweek match-up against the Missouri Tigers and came away with a sweep.
The Hogs won sets one and two 25-20 and closed out the third 25-18 for the team’s first victory against Missouri since 2012. Arkansas is now 15-6 overall in the season and 6-4 in the SEC. Their 15 wins are the most since the 2017-18 season.
Junior Maggie Cartwright led the team with 11 kills on 20 swings for a .500 hitting percentage. Cartwright also had four service aces, which ties a career high. Junior Jill Gillen came in second with 10 kills, and Gracie Ryan had 32 assists and a team-high eight digs.
Mizzou made a push early in the first set, but the Hogs answered back and stayed close and took a 9-7 lead. The teams continued to go back-and-forth from there, and the Tigers were the first to 15 and led by one at the media timeout. A 3-1 Hog run which featured two kills from Gillen gave Arkansas a 19-17 lead, which sent Missouri to a timeout. Arkansas added another three points after that, and the Tigers huddled again. Kills from Cartwright and Taylor Head closed the set 25-20 in favor of the home team.
Arkansas opened the second set with a 4-0 run for an early advantage. The Tigers threatened and came within one, but the Razorbacks led 15-14 at the media timeout. Mizzou tied it up after that, but the Hogs answered with three points to go up 19-16. Gillen and Head added kills to put the Hogs at 21, and a kill from Cartwright and block from her and senior Ellease Crumpton pushed it to set point. A kill from Crumpton finished the second set just as the first ended, 25-20, for a 2-0 match lead.
The third set was extremely tight between the two, and saw nine ties early on. The Hogs then began to pull away with a 4-1 run just before the media timeout and took a 15-12 lead. An ace from Cartwright and a kill from Head extended the advantage before another timeout. Cartwright added another two aces to push the Hogs to a 20-12 lead, and three straight Arkansas points took the third to set and match point for the Razorbacks. The Tigers tacked on three to narrow the gap, but a kill from Gillen shut the effort down for a 25-18 victory and match sweep.
Up Next
Arkansas has the weekend off before returning to action on Nov. 6-7 against Alabama in Tuscaloosa. Saturday’s match is set for noon and will be streamed on SEC Network+, and Sunday’s finale will begin at 3 p.m. live on SEC Network.
Visit ArkansasRazorbacks.com for the latest information on all things Arkansas Volleyball. You can also find the Razorbacks on social media by liking us on Facebook (Arkansas Razorback Volleyball) and following us on Twitter and Instagram (@RazorbackVB).