AUBURN, Ala. – For the first time this season, the University of Arkansas volleyball team is hitting the road for a pair of SEC weekend matches beginning Friday at Auburn. First serve of the conference matchup is scheduled for 6 p.m. (CT) at Auburn Arena. The match will be streamed live online on SEC Network+ which is available through SECNetwork.com and the WatchESPN app.
Arkansas (11-13, 5-6 SEC) leads the all-time series with Auburn, 33-8, and has won 16 of 21 matches played on the Tigers’ home floor. The Razorbacks have won four of the last six meeting dating back to the 2011 season. The two teams split last year’s matches with each winning in four sets on its home floor. Friday’s match will be the only meeting between Arkansas and Auburn (10-13, 2-8 SEC) this season.
In Monday’s release of the national statistical rankings, senior Meredith Hays was ranked 16th in the NCAA with 4.50 kills per set and 24th among the nation’s attackers with 4.93 points per set. She leads the SEC in kills per set and third in points per set. Hays enters the weekend 45 kills shy of becoming the 16th player in program history to record 900 career kills at Arkansas.
For the third time in the last four matches, junior Chanell Clark-Bibbs had 17 kills in the Razorbacks’ Nov. 2 matchup with LSU at Barnhill Arena. It was her fourth-consecutive match with 10 or more kills and her 10th overall double-digit effort of the season, six of which have come during SEC play. During the four-match stretch, Clark-Bibbs is hitting .404 with 4.13 kills per set.
Off the court, head coach Robert Pulliza joined other male members of Arkansas’ athletic department on Nov. 2 for one final shave in November as part of its #StachesForSlive campaign. The initiative is in tribute of SEC Commissioner Mike Slive and to raise awareness and funds to battle prostate cancer. Fans wanting to make a donation are encouraged to do so through the UAMS Rockefeller Cancer Institute.
The Razorbacks’ weekend also includes a Sunday contest against Georgia in a match that will be televised on the SEC Network at 1 p.m. It will be the second meeting between the two teams this season and mark Arkansas’ fourth television appearance on the newly launched network. Melissa Lee and Missy Whittemore are slated to handle the play-by-play and color commentary duties, respectively.
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