Arkansas Tops State To Earn Series Split
The Bulldogs (11-13, 3-10 SEC) opened their SEC home schedule Sept. 24 with a five-set win over Arkansas. But the Hogs (12-13, 6-8 SEC) rode a 17-kill performance by Jasmine Norton and took advantage of a poor offensive showing by State and a solid effort at the net to notch the Halloween afternoon win. Arkansas owned a 44-28 edge in kills and finished with a 10-3 advantage in total team blocking. Charmaine Whitmore delivered seven knock-downs for UA.
State’s season leader in kills, junior Caitlin Rance, paced State with eight kills, while Kellye Jordan finished with seven.
State managed early leads in all three sets, taking a 6-4 edge on a pair of kills by Rance. Arkansas answered with a 4-0 run and never trailed in a 25-20 opening set win. MSU pushed Arkansas in the second set, taking a 19-18 lead on Ashley Newsome’s first kill of the afternoon. The lead was short-lived, however, with UA out-pointing State down the stretch 7-1 to take a 2-0 match lead at the intermission. Rance led another Bulldog charge in the third set, nailing back-to-back kills as State pulled even with the Razorbacks at 14-14. But Arkansas scored six of the next seven points, three on kills by Norton, to regain command of the set en route to a match-clinching 25-17 win.
The Bulldogs open their November schedule at the Newell-Grissom Building this weekend, hosting defending SEC East champion Kentucky Friday at 7 p.m. and Tennessee Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
