COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The University of Arkansas volleyball team returns to action Wednesday evening with a road match at No. 20 Texas A&M. First serve is scheduled for 6 p.m. (CT) at Reed Arena in College Station and will be televised live on the SEC Network. After a pair of wins on their home floor last week, the Razorbacks enter the match 10-8 overall and 4-1 in SEC play.
Wednesday’s match will be Arkansas’ second appearance on the SEC Network. The Razorbacks swept Ole Miss in the program’s debut appearance Oct. 8 at Barnhill Arena. Adam Amin and Maria Taylor will handle the play-by-play and color commentary duties, respectively. The match will be available online at SECNetwork.com or the WatchESPN app.
Beginning with Sunday’s match against Georgia, the Razorbacks have reached the portion of their schedule that features seven-consecutive opponents that advanced to last year’s NCAA Tournament. Texas A&M (11-5, 3-2) represents the first of three-straight ranked opponents for Arkansas. The Razorbacks are in search of their first win against Texas A&M in the short, three-match history between the two programs.
In the most recent national statistics release, Meredith Hays held steady at 14th in the NCAA with 4.59 kills per set and moved up to 16th among the nation’s attackers with 5.12 points per set. She leads the SEC in both categories and is now just 18 kills shy of moving into 20th place on the program’s career list. Defensively, the Razorbacks are ranked 46th with 2.51 blocks per set as a team.
With her 21st and final dig in the Razorbacks’ last match, Monica Bollinger moved into a tie for 20th place on the program’s all-time list with 644 career digs. The match represented her fourth match of the season with 20+ digs. Bollinger is fifth in the SEC with 4.01 digs per set. As a team, Arkansas is serving tough and averaging 1.47 aces per set during conference play. The team had a season-high eight aces in last Wednesday’s match versus Ole Miss.
In Arkansas’ last outing, head coach Robert Pulliza collected his 100th career victory with a five-set victory over Georgia in Fayetteville. Hays led all players with 23 kills while Liz Fortado had a career-high 17 kills against the Bulldogs. Bailee Hankenson posted her third double-double of the season with 61 assists and 10 digs while Chanell Clark-Bibbs had a career-high eight total blocks.
Following their match against Texas A&M, the Razorbacks will continue their road swing Sunday at eighth-ranked Florida. The team’s next home match is Oct. 24 when it hosts No. 12 Kentucky at Barnhill Arena.
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