Razorbacks Down Rams in First Season Sweep

The Razorbacks got their first road trip of the season off to a hot start as the Hogs defeated the Colorado State Rams in straight sets on Thursday night.

Arkansas got better as the night wore on. After they had to play extra points to win the first set, the Hogs defeated the Rams by a margin of 50-27 in the following two.

Senior Jill Gillen led the Hogs with 14 kills, contributed eight digs and hit .364 on the night. Junior Taylor Head had her third double-double in as many matches with 11 kills and a team-best 12 digs.

Graduate middle blocker Tatum Shipes had six blocks, including one solo, and senior Maggie Cartwright also had six block assists, which helped the Hogs to 12 blocks total on the night. Shipes had four kills and hit .667 on six swings with no errors.

Set 1
The Razorbacks grabbed the first two points of the set with back-to-back Gillen kills, but the Rams battled back and kept it tight to start. There were seven tie scores from there through the 15th point, but Colorado State broke away from there with a three-point run and went up 19-16. The Hogs tied it at 21 thanks to kills from Gillen and Dirrigl, which sent CSU to a timeout. The Rams got a point back, but the Razorbacks added two more and the home team huddled again. Arkansas had three set point opportunities from there, but CSU went up by one at 27-26. After a timeout, the Hogs fired back with three straight points, including an ace from Jackson and Gillen kill, which put the set away 29-27.

Set 2
Arkansas kept the momentum going in the beginning of the second set and went on a 6-1 run early. The Rams called time and attempted to regroup, but the Razorbacks added five of the next seven points and extended the lead to nine at 12-3. The Hogs never led by less than seven from there, and while the Rams did make it over 15 points, it was no match for Arkansas and the Razorbacks closed out the second 25-16 for a 2-0 lead in the match. Cartwright led the Arkansas offense in the second set with four kills, while Dirrigl and Gillen added three apiece.

Set 3
The Rams kept the Hogs on their heels to start the third, but a five-point Arkansas run spurred by a CSU attack error put the Hogs up by three at 9-6. The Rams took a timeout but kills from Dirrigl and Head and a service ace from Hogue extended the Arkansas advantage to 15-8. Colorado State couldn’t generate much momentum after another huddle, and the Hogs rattled off three straight points capped off by a Cartwright kill to double up on the Rams, 20-10. CSU only added one more point while Arkansas added four more kills, two from Gillen and one from graduates Abigail Archibong and Tatum Shipes, which sealed the 25-11 set victory and match sweep. Arkansas hit a match-best .379 in the third set to CSU’s -.111.

Next Up
The Hogs continue invitational action at Colorado State with two more matches in Fort Collins: Against Alabama State at 5:30 p.m. CT on Friday and Florida Gulf Coast on Saturday at noon.

More Information
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