Written by: Ben Schoenfield

The Arkansas Razorbacks faced off against the Utah St Aggies in the first round of the NCAA D1 Volleyball Championship at Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene, OR. Arkansas won the match with a 3 set sweep. Arkansas dominated most of the match, going on several long runs, and keeping Utah St. on their heels. Arkansas is 4-1 all-time against Utah State. This win gets the Razorbacks to the second round of the playoffs.

In the first set both the Razorbacks and Aggies started a little rocky. Both teams had at least 5 attack errors, as they tried to settle in. Arkansas had a .250 hitting percentage and Utah St. had a .070. Arkansas was able to pull away in the middle of the set, going on a 8-2 run. After the streak the Razorbacks were able to keep the Aggies at arm’s length. Arkansas came away from the set winning 25-19. The Razorbacks seemed able to get comfortable more quickly on the big stage of the postseason.

The story of the second set was runs, mostly on the half of Arkansas. The Razorbacks had a 7- 1 run to practically start the set, and a 12-2 run to finish out the set. Utah St was very inefficient having a kill percentage of just .034, whereas Arkansas improved slightly to .259. The Razorbacks were a little sloppy in the middle of the set letting the Aggies back within 2. Although they were sloppy they didn’t let Utah St. have a run longer than 3 points.

The third set saw the efficiency of the Razorbacks improve greatly, improving to a .500 hit percentage. Utah St also improved greatly, but they were unable to go on any runs because of the attacking style of play from Arkansas. Taylor Head led the Razorbacks with 15 kills and 7 digs. Arkansas overall had 46 digs, which helped them keep Utah State from playing quickly and efficiently.

Arkansas will face off against 3-seed Oregon tomorrow evening 12/3 at 7p.m. at Matthew Knight Arena for the second round of the playoffs.