| SEC VOLLEYBALL RESULTS |
Arkansas 3, Auburn 0
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South Carolina 3, Alabama 0
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Florida 3, Ole Miss 0
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LSU 3, Georgia 2
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Tennessee 3, Mississippi State 1
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Weekend finale goes to Razorbacks in sweep
AUBURN, Ala. – The University of Arkansas volleyball team closed out its weekend with a straight-set victory over Auburn (25-20, 25-18, 25-19) Sunday afternoon at in Auburn, Ala. The Razorbacks were paced by a match-high 15 kills from Jasmine Norton. Defensively, Arkansas got a match-high 11 digs from libero Christa Alvarez and five total blocks apiece from Roslandy Acosta and Janeliss Torres-Lopez.
“We had a really good collective effort today,” head coach Robert Pulliza said. “I’m really proud of our kids for the way they battled today especially after a tough loss Friday. This is a really tough place to play and Auburn played really hard. In the SEC, there are no easy wins.”
Kelli Stipanovich added seven kills and was second on the team with 10 digs. Offensively, the Razorback registered a .307 hitting percentage, the team’s third-highest effort during SEC play. In the third set of Sunday’s match, Arkansas hit .421 to close out the Tigers. On the defensive side, the team had 42 digs, 13 more than its opponent.
With the win, Arkansas improves to 17-9 overall and 9-6 in Southeastern Conference play. The nine conference wins are the most by the Razorbacks under Pulliza and the most by the program since the 2006 season. Auburn drops to 10-16 overall and 4-12 in league play.
After trading points early in set one, the Razorbacks went out to a 9-6 lead after consecutive kills from Norton and an Auburn hitting error. On the next play, Norton registered her third kill of the match to force a timeout from the home team. Out of the timeout, the Tigers put together a run to pull to within one point but Arkansas responded with a seven-point surge to take a 18-10 lead.
The Razorbacks’ advantage reached double digits after an attack error by Auburn gave the visitors a 21-11 advantage. From that point, however, the Tigers reeled off six points in a row to pull to within four. Arkansas recovered to regain control of play and arrived at set point with an Auburn service error. The Tigers saved two set points but handed the set to Arkansas, 25-20, with another service error, its fourth of the opening game.
Carrying over the momentum, the Razorbacks won the first six point of the second set. During the run, Arkansas benefited from a pair of tandem blocks and three attack errors from Auburn. Arkansas pushed its lead to seven, 11-4, when Auburn setter Chelsea Wintzinger was called for a lift. Out of a timeout, the Tigers won four of the next five points but Arkansas still held a 12-7 lead.
Later in the set, a kill by Stipanovich gave the team a 20-11 lead. Play went back and forth until a tip kill by Kasey Heckelman found the line to give Arkansas set point, 24-15. Like they did in the opener, the Tigers extended play by winning the next three points. On the team’s fourth opportunity to close out the set, Norton found the floor to clinch the game, 25-18, and give the Razorbacks a 2-0 match lead.
Arkansas won an extended rally to open the third set and went on to take a 5-1 lead after an ace from Norton. The Razorbacks turned a four-point lead into a 15-8 advantage to force an Auburn timeout. During the run, the team got a kill from Torres-Lopez and two kills from Norton. Throughout the remainder of the set, Arkansas led by at least five.
Heckelman pushed the Razorback lead to 20-13 with her final kill of the match. The two teams traded points until Arkansas arrived at match point, 24-17, with the help of Norton’s final putaway. The Tigers saved two match points but on the third, Stipanovich put down a Santos offering to clinch the set, 25-19, and give Arkansas is 13th straight-set win of the season.
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Behind Bruns & Wheeler, Gamecock Volleyball Sweeps Alabama
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Behind the serving and setting of junior Taylor Bruns and the defense of sophomore Paige Wheeler, South Carolina (12-13, 3-12 SEC) swept past Alabama (11-16, 4-12 SEC) 25-14, 28-26, 25-22, in front of 605 fans at the Volleyball Competition Facility on Sunday afternoon.
Bruns matched a career best with six aces, tallied seven kills and dished out 30 assists in the victory, with her six aces ranking fourth on South Carolina’s all-time list for a three-set match. Freshman outside hitter Hanna Forst tied Bruns with a team-high 14 points, as Forst tallied a team-high 12 kills, an ace and a solo block. The libero Wheeler posted a match-best 20 digs and added an ace. Sophomore outside hitter Juliette Thévenin had a double-double with 10 kills and 17 digs. Senior middle blocker Teresa Stenlund added a match-best four block assists, five digs and six kills.
Kayla Fitterer posted 12 kills and 11 digs to lead Alabama. Andrea McQuaid tallied 11 kills and a team-best 15 digs. Cristina Arenas compiled 11 digs, while Stephanie Riley had 30 assists and 10 digs.
The Gamecocks stormed to a 25-14 first-set win behind a .500 hitting percentage and five aces. Bruns started the match with two service aces, while Thévenin posted one in a three-point run that made it 5-1. The Crimson Tide never got closer than the 5-2 score after McQuaid’s kill. The Gamecocks closed the set with a 9-3 stand. Bruns had two kills in that stretch, while Thévenin close the frame with a kill.
A tight second set went to the Gamecocks in the end, 28-26, thanks to four blocks in the set. Featuring seven ties and four lead changes, South Carolina came back from a seven-point deficit to tie the frame at 21-21 behind consecutive Forst kills. Alabama got the first try at set point after Leigh Moyer’s spike, but a Tide service error gave South Carolina life. A block from Bruns and Stenlund knotted the set at 24-24. The teams traded service errors before Thévenin handed the Gamecocks the advantage with a kill. McQuaid answered to tie it at 26-26, but Thévenin responded again with a kill to give South Carolina a chance to end it. Forst did that with her solo stuff of the Alabama attack, closing it at 28-26. South Carolina recorded 30 digs in the second alone, with Thévenin and Wheeler both posting nine.
South Carolina ran out to an 8-1 lead in the third set and hung on to take it 25-22. Bruns serving gave the Crimson Tide fits to start, with an ace and an unassisted kill from Thévenin part of the 5-0 run that started the set. But Alabama charged back, posting seven-straight points that brought the Tide to within one at 17-16. Both Moyer and Brianne Vande Griend had two kills in the run. Alabama tied it later after a 4-1 skein, with Fitterer providing three of the kills. South Carolina head coach Scott Swanson called timeout and got his team refocused, as the Gamecocks came out and took the final three points to claim the set and match. Stenlund started the run with a kill, followed by a Thévenin ace and punctuated by Forst’s kill. Forst, Thévenin and Bruns all had three kills in the final frame.
South Carolina won every stat battle, including an 11-2 advantage in aces and a 7-5 lead in blocks.
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Hometown Hero Mann Leads No. 17 Gator Volleyball to 3-0 Sweep of Ole Miss
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Sophomore middle blocker Chloe Mann (Gainesville, Fla.) had one of her best performances in a Gator uniform on Sunday, leading the No. 17 Gator volleyball team to a season sweep of Ole Miss, defeating the Rebels, 3-0, (25-13, 25-22, 25-10) on Sunday afternoon in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Florida moves to 19-5 on the season and 12-3 in SEC play. Ole Miss snapped their four-match winning streak to fall to 9-15 on the year and 5-11 in conference action.
The Gators held the Rebels to just .057 hitting efficiency on the afternoon, including forcing Ole Miss to hit negative in two of the three sets. The Rebels’ most efficient hitter was their setter, Amanda Philpot, who led Ole Miss with five kills on .333 hitting.
“Their big time point-scorers never got on track,” Florida head coach Mary Wise said. “To hold Ole Miss, who has been red-hot, to just .057 says a lot about our defense. And as good as our defense was, it says a lot about our sideout offense as well.
Florida’s dominance at the net was due in large part to Mann, who had six blocks on the afternoon to go along with a match-high eight kills on .667 hitting. The Gainesville native posted 11.5 points in total on Sunday afternoon, tying for the match high. Senior outside hitter Kristy Jaeckel (Littleton, Colo.) also had 11.5 points on Sunday, registering eight kills, nine digs and three service aces against Ole Miss. Junior middle blocker Betsy Smith (Atlanta, Ga.) was solid against the Rebels with seven kills and two blocks, while redshirt freshman libero Taylor Unroe (Muncie, Ind.) led the Gators’ backcourt effort with 12 digs.
Sophomore setter Chanel Brown (Tempe, Ariz.) posted a match-high 17 assists, a rare feat considering the Gators run a 6-2 offense as opposed to the 5-1 setting scheme Ole Miss utilizes, meaning Brown only sets in three rotations while the Rebels’ setter Philpot sets in all six rotations. Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award finalist Kelly Murphy (Wilmington, Ill.) recorded a complete outing with five kills, 14 assists, five digs, two blocks and two aces against Ole Miss. Freshman defensive specialist Holly Pole (Ocala, Fla.), in her first career start, registered a career-high seven digs on the afternoon, more than doubling her previous mark of three.
Florida took an early 4-0 lead over Ole Miss to start the first frame. Jaeckel found a hole in the back corner of the Rebels’ defense and took advantage, extending the Orange and Blue lead to 6-2. Mann’s three straight kills and Jaeckel’s service ace forced an Ole Miss timeout at 13-3. Ole Miss had four straight service errors that extended Florida’s lead to 20-8. Ole Miss tried to fight back and registered back-to-back blocks to decrease the Gator lead to 20-10. Brown set Ferrell up for a blast that put Florida one point from the set win, and a Rebels attacking error gave the Gators the 25-13 first set victory.
Ole Miss seemed to have figured out the Florida offense as they kept the set close, tying for the first 11 points. Errors on both sides kept the teams dueling before Jaeckel ripped the seam of a block to give Florida a 12-11 lead, and a Mann-Murphy block gave the Orange and Blue their first two-point lead of the set, 13-11. The Gators kept the lead until a Florida attacking error tied the set at 16-16. The two teams continued to battle, forcing Florida to call their first timeout of the match with the score tied, 21-21. The Orange and Blue went on a 3-0 run to take their first three-point lead of the set, 24-21. Wiggs smashed a Murphy set win the set, 25-22, and give the Gators a 2-0 advantage going into intermission.
The Gators took an initial 2-0 lead out of the break, but the Rebels were not far behind, tying the set at 6-6. Florida never trailed in the third set, as a Ferrell blast sparked a 4-0 run and a Murphy ace forced an Ole Miss timeout at 10-6. Smith smashed back-to-back kills through the Rebels’ block to extend the Florida lead to 12-7. A Murphy kill out of the middle put Jaeckel behind the service line at 15-10, where she would finish the match. Jaeckel served nine straight points, including two service aces, to end the match. Freshman outside hitter Noami Santos-Lamb (Carolina, Puerto Rico) got in on the action, taking the last two swings for the Gators and registering the final kill to give Florida the set and the match, 25-10.
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LSU Volleyball Erases Six Match Points, Dumps Georgia
ATHENS, Ga. – Malorie Pardo equaled a career-high 60 assists, added 10 digs to compile her 10th double-double of the season and saved three match points on her serve during the fifth set to propel the LSU volleyball team to a gritty 3-2 triumph over Georgia [20-25, 25-17, 25-16, 21-25, 18-16] Sunday at the Ramsey Center.
LSU (17-8, 10-5 SEC) saved six total match points during the deciding frame to maintain its one-match lead over Arkansas, a three-set winner versus Auburn, in the SEC Western Division race.
Pardo fueled the Tigers to a .316 team hitting percentage as LSU’s offense had four players collect double figure kills en route to a 67-57 spikes advantage. The Tigers also racked up 13 blocks and edged out Georgia (10-16, 6-10 SEC) by a 60-59 margin in digs.
“This is a team that is beginning to believe that it’s going to win no matter what when it steps out to the court,” head coach Fran Flory said. “We’ve worked extremely hard to get to that point, and it’s nice to see the players reap the benefits of their hard work. I don’t think we want to be down six match points every match. We had so many players contribute make key moments. That’s the sign of a team that continues to get better, and I believe that our best volleyball is still ahead of us.”
Madie Jones powered home five of her 21 kills during the fifth set to equal a career-high. She was joined by solid all-around efforts from Michele Williams and Desiree Elliott.
Williams belted 19 kills and tallied seven blocks. In the process, Williams eclipsed former All-American Lauren DeGirolamo on the program all-time kills list for sole possession of 17th place.
Elliott made the most of her 21 swings and smacked 12 kills on a crisp .476 hitting ratio. She also posted five blocks. Helen Boyle cranked 11 kills and 10 digs to record her second straight double-double, while Nicole Willis garnered a career-best six blocks.
On the back row, Meghan Mannari sprawled out for match-high 24 digs and tacked on three aces.
Georgia was paced by Kathleen Luft’s 20 kills. Briana Bahr chipped in 15 kills, while Brittany Northcutt popped seven kills to go along with 19 digs.
Behind 14-10 in the fifth set, Williams ignited the run with a kill down the line from the pin. Williams teamed with Willis for a block on Luft to force Georgia into a timeout. Out of the break, Jones ripped consecutive kills to even the tally at 14-14.
After a second Bulldog timeout led into a UGA sideout, Jones wiped away another match point with a cross-court kill to deadlock the score at 15-15. Luft and Williams traded spikes as LSU erased its sixth match point. An Elliott-Willis stuff on Northcutt coupled with a Boyle out-of-system kill vaulted the Tigers to the memorable 18-16 comeback win.
“The best thing about Madie and Michele is that everyone in the conference knows that we’re going to set them and are still able to put up these types of numbers,” Flory said. “It’s a great tribute to their work ethic and volleyball abilities. I’m proud of both of them because they continue to come through in the clutch for us.”