Oct. 14, 2007
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Sophomore Ivana Kujundzic tallied her seventh double-double of the season, but that was not enough as Arkansas captured a 3-0 sweep over South Carolina, 30-24, 30-28, 30-21, at Barnhill Arena on Sunday afternoon. The Lady Razorbacks moved to 10-10 on the season and 4-6 in the Southeastern Conference, while the Gamecocks dropped to 9-10, 2-8 in league play.
Kujundzic topped the squad with her 12 kills, while senior Belita Salters led the team with her .429 hitting percentage on 11 kills. Kujundzic’s 12 digs led the Garnet and Black. Sophomore Sarah Cline (11) and freshman Jordan Bradosky (10) also had double-digit digs.
The trio of Jessica Dorrell, Heather Royal and Sarah Freudenrich led the Lady Razorbacks, as each one had double-digit kills. Royal led the way with 15, while Dorrell and Freudenrich had 11 and 10, respectively. Freudenrich compiled seven blocks, including two solos. Ashley Miller had 11 digs to lead Arkansas.
Arkansas ran out to an early 9-5 lead behind kills from Dorrell and Freudenrich and a block from the pair. The Gamecocks brought it within one at 14-13 after a Megan Laughlin kill, a Kujundzic ace and a Lady’Back hitting error. After two Arkansas points, South Carolina tied it up at 16-16 thanks to a pair of errors from the Lady Razorbacks. Arkansas would take a small 21-18 advantage before USC brought it back to within one at 20-18 on a Laughlin kill. From there, the Lady Razorbacks would get three straight points, helped by two Gamecock hitting errors to go up 24-21. The squads traded side outs until Carolina got a pair of points from an Arkansas service error and a Dani Bedore kill. The teams swapped side outs again until the Lady’Backs went on a four-point tear to end the game. Three different Red and White players got kills in the run before the squad’s fifth block of the game ended the frame, this one coming from Christina Lawrence and Freudenrich. Arkansas hit .390 in the frame to take the victory, while the Gamecocks had nine attack errors.
After the Lady Razorbacks took a 6-3 advantage in game two, the Gamecocks came roaring back with seven consecutive points. Kujundzic started the run with a kill, while Laughlin had three block assists at the end of the run. With South Carolina holding a 12-9 lead, Arkansas went on a five-point skein that was capped by three consecutive aces from Dorrell to take a 14-12 advantage. The Lady’Backs stretched its lead to 23-18 behind two kills from Freudenrich. After the squads traded side outs, the Gamecocks tightened up the match to 24-22, helped by a pair of Arkansas errors. The home squad answered with kills from Royal and Lawrence. The teams traded points until Carolina made it interesting. A service error and a hitting error from Arkansas sandwiched a Bedore kill to bring the Garnet and Black within one at 28-27. But the Lady’Backs would hold on, ending the frame with a kill from Dorrell. Dorrell, Royal and Freudenrich all had five kills in the game for the Lady’Backs.
Game three was all Arkansas after the 4-4 mark for a bit. The Lady’Backs put together four runs of three points or more to take a commanding 22-11 lead. Carolina fought back with four straight points to make it 22-15. Bradosky had two aces in that stretch. The Gamecocks would eventually draw the match to 25-20 before the Lady’Backs would put them away. Lawrence would once again wrap it up with her ninth kill of the match. Arkansas hit .529 in the final frame, having only one error in the game.
Arkansas hit .413 in the match, compared to .198 for South Carolina. The Lady Razorbacks had 11 total team blocks in the contest as well and had the advantage in kills, digs and assists.
The Gamecocks start the second half of the SEC round-robin play on Friday when they travel to face Georgia.
