BATON ROUGE, La. – Senior Meredith Hays registered her fifth double-double of the season while junior Chanell Clark-Bibbs tallied a career-high 14 kills Sunday in a five-set loss at LSU. Hays led all players with 27 kills and completed the double-double with 14 digs. Behind the block, junior libero tallied a match-high 26 digs to pace the defense. Arkansas returns to Fayetteville for a 6 p.m. (CT) match Wednesday against Ole Miss that will be televised by the SEC Network.
Hays’ effort was her seventh match of the season with at least 20 kills and her fifth with 23 or more. The double-double was her first in a true road match this season and her first since Sept. 13 against SMU. Clark-Bibbs hit .462 on her way to surpassing her previous high of 13 which she established Sept. 6 against Middle Tennessee. She now has five matches this season with 10 or more kills. Clark-Bibbs added a team-high four blocks against LSU.
With her 23rd dig of the match, Bollinger moved into 23rd place on the program’s career digs list. She now has 611 digs in her Razorback career which puts her just ahead of Ning Zhao (1998-98). Bollinger has three matches this season with 20 or more digs and finished just two behind her career best of 28 which she set Sept. 9 against Oral Roberts. In directing the offense to a .262 hitting percentage, freshman Bailee Hankenson dished out a career-high 55 assists Sunday.
After losing the first set, Arkansas (8-8, 2-1 SEC) trailed by seven early in the second but erased the deficit and took its first lead of the match at 16-15 on a Bailee Hankenson service ace. From that point, neither team led by more than one point with LSU arriving at set point at 24-23. The Razorbacks stayed alive with a kill from Hays and scored the final three points, securing the set when an LSU attack sailed long.
Arkansas jumped out to an early lead in the third set with a 7-0 lead out of the break. LSU (6-7, 1-3 SEC) got to within five points but the Razorbacks closed out the set, 25-14, on an attack error by their opponent. The Tigers rallied to win set four and force the decisive game.
The home team led early and went ahead 11-5 in the fifth to force an Arkansas timeout. The Razorbacks fought back to win nine of the next 12 points to pull even at 14-all and saved two match points during the run. Arkansas had match point at 15-14 but LSU closed out the match with a three-point surge for the five-set victory. Sunday’s match was Arkansas’ sixth five setter of the season.
Final
LSU 3, Arkansas 2 (25-17, 24-26, 14-25, 25-21, 17-15)
Attendance: 684 | Time: 2:24
Maravich Center | Baton Rouge, La.
#RazorFacts
• Stat Leaders at LSU
o Kills: 27 – Meredith Hays
o Digs: 26 – Monica Bollinger
o Blocks: 4 – Chanell Clark-Bibbs
• Milestone Watch
o Monica Bollinger: moved into 23rd place (611) on program’s career digs list
o Meredith Hays: 22nd player in program history with 700 career kills (724)
• Chanell Clark-Bibbs: Hitting .532 with 2.45 kills per set and leads team with 10 total blocks during SEC play
• Bailee Hanenson: 55 assists, most by a Razorback in one match since Nov. 20, 2011 (Santos – 61 at Kentucky)
• Meredith Hays: leading the SEC with 5.64 kills per set in conference matches
• Next match: Oct. 8 vs. Ole Miss [SEC Network]
o First serve at 6 p.m. (CT) at Barnhill Arena
o First SEC Network television appearance of the season
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