University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
13-8, 6-4SEC
Arkansas
5-14, 2-7SEC
Lady Vol Volleyball Takes Out Arkansas in Four Sets
October 19, 2008 | Volleyball
Oct. 19, 2008
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The University of Tennessee volleyball team (13-8, 6-4 Southeastern Conference) closed out the first half of its league schedule in style Sunday afternoon, defeating Arkansas (5-14, 2-7 SEC) in four sets, 25-21, 25-18, 17-25, 25-21, at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, Tenn. Three different Lady Vols reached double-digits in kills and UT hit at a solid .282 clip in the victory.
"Overall, this was a good way for us to finish out the first half of our SEC schedule," UT Head Coach Rob Patrick said. "We knew that Arkansas was a better team than their record indicated and we expected a hard-fought match, which is exactly what we got.
"Even though this was one of our more inconsistent matches all season from a passing perspective, I was very happy with the way our offense was still able to produce at a high level for most of the match," Patrick said. "Our offense really carried us today and was the reason we were able to come away with a win. We need to continue working on our defensive consistency and we will make that a point of emphasis in practice this week."
| Watch the Full Match Replay |
For the 16th time this season, sophomore Nikki Fowler led the Big Orange in kills, smashing out 20 in the win. The Dallas, Texas, native also reached double-digits with 11 digs to account for her team-high sixth double-double of the year and 17th of her young career. Finishing just behind Fowler in the kills category was senior Mindy Flynn who tallied a season-high with 16 putaways in the contest. She also topped the team with a stellar .483 hitting percentage with just a pair of attack errors in 29 total attacks, in addition to collecting five digs and a block.
"Mindy came up big for us offensively today," Patrick said. "She played well the entire match, but was especially effective at the end of the fourth set when we needed some crucial kills.
UT setters freshman Kelsey Mahoney and junior Michaela Hanakova continued their run of strong play, notching 34 assists and eight digs and 17 assists and five digs, respectively, while pacing the Orange and White to a .282 attack average (59-19-142) as a team. Mahoney's 34 assists marked both a career-high and the best total by a Lady Vol this season.
"I thought our setters did a very nice job of running the offense despite our inconsistent passing," Patrick said. "I give both Mischa and Kelsey all the credit for the fact that we were able to hit .282 in this match."
Defensively, junior libero Chloe Goldman led all performers with 18 digs, while Fowler and junior Kylie Marshall had 11 and 10 each. In the blocks category, junior Farren Powe was able to send back a squad-high three Razorback attacks and freshman Alyssa Hilby and Marshall both had a pair of putbacks.
After a slow start in the opening frame, the Lady Vols were able to right the ship, using a run in which they won six of seven points, to propel themselves to a 25-21 victory. UT was near perfect offensively in the first set, hitting .424 (16-2-33), led by a .667 mark by Fowler. The 6-2 sophomore had six kills in the frame without a single error on nine attacks.
Neither squad looked particularly sharp early on as they slowly fought their way to a 14-14 deadlock. Up until that point, the largest lead for either squad was just two scores. UT changed that in a hurry, however, breaking open the tie with a streak of four consecutive points, highlighted by a pair of kills by Fowler and a putaway by Marshall.
Although Razorback Head Coach Robert Pulliza was able to regain the momentum briefly with a timeout and a kill by sophomore Heather Royal, Tennessee got it right back with an Arkansas attack error and an ace by Marshall that moved the score to 20-15. After the two teams traded the next seven points, Arkansas middle blocker Yun Tang pounded out a kill to mover her squad within just three at 23-20. That would be as close as it would get though, as UT closed out the frame with kills by Powe and Fowler on two of the next three plays.
Although the Orange and White offense slipped a bit in the second frame, hitting just .275, Fowler did not, smashing out seven kills on 13 swings to lead the Lady Vols to a 25-18 triumph and giving it a two-set lead heading into the intermission.
After the Razorbacks jumped ahead 2-1 on a kill and a block by Christina Lawrence, the Big Orange responded immediately with three consecutive scores and never trailed the rest of the way. Powe opened the spree with a kill before Fowler blasted out putaways on back-to-back plays.
Arkansas continued to battle, however, tying the set up three more times before Hilby broke open an 8-8 tie with a kill that sparked a four-point run including a block by Fowler and Powe, a kill by Flynn and an attack error by Lawrence. Pulliza's first timeout of the set followed the final play of that stretch.
While the short break paid immediate dividends, the long-term benefits were not quite so good. Arkansas sophomore Hillary McCormick recorded a kill straight out of the timeout to make it 12-9, but Tennessee immediately responded with three more scores. The Razorbacks then took a page out of UT's book, answering right back with three scores of its own to move within three at 15-12.
The Razorback deficit remained around three until yet another Big Orange run sealed their fate, breaking open a 20-17 match to take a 23-17 advantage. Arkansas added one final point on a kill by Royal before UT finished it off with a kill by Fowler and a block by Powe and Flynn.
Arkansas used a pair of three point runs to race out to a quick 6-1 lead and never looked back, fending off the sweep with a 25-17 triumph in the third set. Following that early surge, Tennessee never moved closer than within four points at any point in the frame. Offense was the key to the frame, as the Razorbacks hit at a 292 clip, while the Lady Vols were unable to get anything going and hit just .100 for the frame.
Despite the setback, the Big Orange responded quite nicely in the fourth set, bouncing back to earn a 25-21 victory and take the match, three sets to one. The UT offense got back on track, following the examples of Flynn and Fowler who had six and five kills respectively, to hit .308 in the frame. The defense picked up the pace as well, recording 22 digs, led by six from Goldman and four by Marshall.
With both teams pounding out kill after kill through the first half of the set, Tennessee was lucky to emerge from the battle with a 15-12 lead near the midpoint, following a kill by Fowler that prompted Pulliza to take a timeout to steady his troops. The tactic did just that, as the Razorbacks came out of the break swinging and were able to move within one at 15-14 after kills by Yun Tang and Kelli Stipanovich.
Fortunately for fans of the Orange and White, Fowler was able to halt their momentum at that point, recording yet another putaway off an assist from Hanakova. The Lady Vols continued to slowly extend their advantage over the course of the next eight plays before a smash by Flynn gave them a commanding four-point lead at 21-17.
Once again, Pulliza used a timeout to attempt to get the Big Orange off its game and, once again, it worked to perfection. Following the stop in play, Lawrence and Tang sandwiched kills around a UT attack error to inch within a single score at 21-20.
This time, however, Patrick returned the favor with a timeout of his own that resulted in scores on four of the final five plays of the match. Flynn and Fowler put together back-to-back kills straight out of the break before repeating the feat after a Lawrence kill to give Tennessee its third straight victory.
UT will take its three-match winning streak on the road next weekend when it travels to Alabama and Mississippi State. The Lady Vols will take on the Crimson Tide at 7 p.m. CT in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on Fri., Oct. 24 before squaring off with the Bulldogs at 1:30 p.m. CT in Starkville, Miss., two days later.
