FAYETTEVILLE — The No. 21 Arkansas volleyball team beat Arkansas-Little Rock 25-23, 25-18, 25-23 in the finale of the Wooo Pig Invitational on Sunday afternoon at Barnhill Arena.
The Razorbacks (7-0) led 10-3 early in the opening set, but UALR pulled within 24-23 on consecutive kills from Bella Cherry. However, Little Rock native Romani Thurman put away set point for the win.
The final set was also a slugfest with 15 ties, and the Trojans even led 22-21 when they blocked Thurman. But Thurman bounced back with two kills and a block assist to put Arkansas up 24-22. A kill by Sophia Garrido pulled the Trojans within a point, but an attack error ended it.
“Being from Little Rock, I hold that close to my heart … we knew they are going to give it their best,” Thurman said. “We just knew we had to come out with a lot of fire.”
The Razorbacks earned their 7-0 start since 2002.
Thurman, who transferred from North Carolina before this season, led Arkansas with a team-high 15 kills. Aniya Madkin chipped in 12 kills.
The 5-10 right-side hitter said she’s felt right at home with the Razorbacks.
“I feel like the girls have made it real easy for me to settle in here and to fit into their system,” said Thurman, the daughter of former Arkansas basketball standout Scotty Thurman. “I don’t think it could have started off any better.”
Arkansas Coach Jason Watson talked about how the Trojans would have plenty of fight for the Razorbacks, and that was surely the case. He said seniors Courtney Jackson and Hannah Hogue helped Arkansas match UALR’s intensity.
“You know you’ve got Courtney and Hannah out there who are always are going to create stuff,” Watson said. “Being it from the service line or just create a dig or extend a play. I thought it was a hard weekend for both teams, four matches. I thought both teams really battled and surprisingly clean for the fatigue they were under.
“It was one of those things, on our side, you just know that if you don’t close out that third set that this thing could get away from us and flip really quickly. So thankful that we scored a point on Jada’s (Lawson) service ace there to create a little separation.”
Senior Jeila Fullerton finished with a match-high 16 kills and 13 digs for UALR (5-2). Cherry added 13 kills.
UALR Coach Van Compton, in her 37th season, said her team didn’t start as aggressively as it needed to. She said the fact the Trojans were playing the Razorbacks could have been a reason why.
“A lot of times the jersey will intimidate you,” Compton said. “I thought we came out the first set a little timid. I didn’t think we came out with the intensity that we had played with through the weekend. But as we played the second set and the third I thought we got our intensity.”
Compton said her team struggled in serve reception at times and that Arkansas handled UALR’s serve well.
“At times, we didn’t execute our defense, and I thought we had served tougher in other matches,” Compton said. “I thought we played a little more timid than I thought. This team has a lot of energy and kind of like fearless. Today, that maybe their execution was a little off.”
Arkansas hits the road this week, taking on Tulsa on Thursday and Stephen F. Austin on Friday in the Tulsa Invitational.
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Publish date : 2024-09-08 20:05:00
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