DALLAS (SMU) – The SMU volleyball team lost a hard-fought, five-set match to Arkansas Saturday in its final match before the start of the American Athletic Conference schedule Friday against Tulane at 7 p.m. in Moody Coliseum. The Razorbacks won 15-13 in the fifth set to improve to 10-2 after the 3-2 win (25-17, 23-25, 21-25, 25-22, 15-13).
The Razorbacks got out to a 7-3 lead to start the fifth set, but by the time the teams switched sides, SMU had cut the lead to two, 8-6. Trailing by three, 10-7, SMU scored four straight for an 11-10 lead. Arkansas answered with three straight, taking a 13-11 lead. SMU posted a block on Arkansas' first attempt at match point, but one serve later, Pilar Victoria, the national leader in kills, scored her sixth of the set and 31st of the match for the win.
Arkansas scored 67 kills as a team with a .261 attack percentage, while the Mustangs (6-5) scored 56 kills. SMU recorded 10 blocks, with
Lexi Nordmann accounting for six. The freshman also scored eight kills, earning all-tournament honors.
Lauren Mills led SMU with 12 kills.
Meryn Kennedy and
Kelly Brunstein each scored 11 kills, and
Eva Linden finished with 10 kills.
Arkansas forced a fifth set with a 25-22 win in the fourth. After SMU won the third, the Razorbacks scored seven of the first nine points to start the fourth. SMU chipped away at the early lead throughout the set, eventually tying the score at 19 apiece, but the Mustangs were not able to take the lead. Trailing by four, 24-20, SMU scored twice before the serve came up short to end the set in Arkansas' favor.
Trailing 20-15 in the second, the Mustangs scored four straight to cut the Arkansas lead to one, 20-19. The Razorbacks maintained the lead until SMU scored three straight, capping the rally with an ace by freshman
Julia DiBona for a 23-22 advantage. After an SMU attack error, Arkansas served it long to give SMU a 24-23 lead. Nordmann and Mills combined for the block, tying the match after two sets with the 25-23 win. The block on set point was Nordmann's second of the set, with each coming on two of SMU's last four points in the set. Brunstein led the SMU offense with five kills.
SMU took a 2-1 lead in the match with a 25-21 win in the third set. The Mustangs never trailed by more than one point in a set that was tied eight times, but featured just four lead changes. The last lead change came when SMU scored back-to-back points for a 13-12 lead as part of a 5-1 run, which ended with the Mustangs leading 16-13. SMU stretched the lead to four, 19-15. The Razorback cut the lead to two, but after an SMU timeout, Kennedy slammed a ball straight down to give SMU a 21-18 lead. SMU scored on three kills and a block over the next seven serves to secure the win.
The Razorbacks wn the first set, 25-17. Arkansas built a six-point lead early in the set, 12-6, and SMU wasn't able to find the offense to get back into the set. The Mustangs scored just nine kills, despite holding Arkansas to 13 kills on a .179 attack percentage.
