University of Georgia Athletics
Thursday, February 4
Athens, Ga.
7:00 p.m.
University of Georgia
4-5,4-5SEC
1
vs
3
Arkansas
7-4,7-4SEC
1
2
3
4
F
Arkansas
33
25
20
25
3
Georgia
31
15
25
21
1
Bulldogs Open Spring Play with 3-1 Loss to Arkansas
February 04, 2021 | Volleyball
ATHENS, Ga. – The University of Georgia women's volleyball program opened spring competition Thursday evening at Stegeman Coliseum. The Bulldogs fell to Arkansas in four sets (31-33, 15-25, 25-20, 21-25).
For the Bulldogs offense, sophomore Kacie Evans paced the team, registering a season-high 16 kills. She also earned her third double-double of the 2020-21 season with 10 digs.
While Evans was the only Bulldog with double-digit kills, she was one of four with double-digit digs as fellow sophomore Amber Stivrins led the squad with a career-best 16. Senior setter Brynn Chandler and freshman libero Mallory Downing each had 10. Chandler earned a double-double with 16 assists. Thursday's match was the collegiate debut of Downing as she earned the start in the libero jersey.
At the net, junior Sage Naves tied a season high with five blocks. As a team, Georgia (4-5, 4-5) out-blocked Arkansas 14-11.
The match started off with a nail-biter of a set as the opening stanza featured 16 ties and nine lead changes. A service ace by Dalaney Hans gave the Bulldogs a 21-20 lead down the stretch; however, Arkansas rallied back to win three of the next four and take a 23-22 lead. Arkansas drew the first set point at 24-23 but Georgia tied it at 24. The back-and-forth went on as one team would draw set point, then the other. A kill from Stivrins gave Georgia set point at 31-30, but Arkansas prevailed in the set, winning the next three points and taking a 1-0 lead with a 33-31 set one win.
Tied at 3-3 early in set two, a 6-1 Razorback run opened an early 9-4 lead. The Bulldogs would cut it to 16-13 then a 7-0 run broke open the set for Arkansas, 23-13. The Hogs took the set 25-15 and a 2-0 lead in the match.
While the third set was tied four times, Georgia never relinquished the lead in the frame. Knotted at 8-8, a 9-0 run with Stivrins at the service line opened a 17-8 lead for Georgia. Arkansas immediately answered back with five straight to cut it to four, but the Bulldogs were able to halt the Razorback offense and hold on to win the set 25-20 and keep the match alive. Evans tallied six kills and Stivrins nine digs in the third set alone.
Georgia found an early lead and was able to stay out in front much of the four set. With Georgia up 17-14, Arkansas began to narrow the deficit to tie it at 18. Tied at 19, the Razorbacks (7-4, 7-4) began a push to take four-straight rallies and go ahead 22-18. The late push was enough to hold off the Bulldogs as Arkansas won the fourth set 25-21 and the match.
The Bulldogs and Razorbacks will square off again Friday at Stegeman Coliseum. First serve is set for 8:30 p.m. on SEC Network.
Georgia Women's Volleyball Head Coach Tom Black
On Georgia's hitter/setter connections...
"I just think that is something you're constantly training. I mean there was some uncharacteristic play from what we've seen, so I expect that to improve tomorrow. "
On eliminating server runs tomorrow…
"I thought they were swinging for the fences. They were either making an ace or a lot of errors. Then we didn't weather their tough servers very well. We need to manage our scenes better. We just got to be tougher than we were today. We've got to give them credit for their tough serving, but we could manage those better and get better swings out of them."
On Stirvin's 9-0 service run in set three, and how they'll keep runs like that going...
"That's what we will spend tonight doing. Breaking down and seeing where we scored points and how we can get more of those. I think we found a little strategy there in the third set that was starting to pay off. So, we will take a look at that tonight and see what we want to do for our game plan tomorrow."
#21 Amber Stivrins | Sophomore
On the match…
"I think in the first two sets everyone was just kind of waiting for someone to take the reins and just show them how to do it, and I thought that was getting old. I said, 'Come on! I'll do it myself if I have to.' So, I just tried to put in my serve, and I know we can get a good block. We do have a good block if our eyes are just working. I just think if we out work them tomorrow, that's all we really need."
On stopping runs…
"I think a big thing tonight was that everyone felt kind of like they were on an island. Connecting to the people around you and not just playing for you and the glory that comes from you doing well is important. I'm playing for the people next to me, and I want them to do just as well if not better than me. I think us having that mindset of wanting everyone else to do the best they can because that translates into you looking the best you can look. We have to have pride in Georgia and pride in each other, so I think that's going to be our big thing for tomorrow."
On getting rhythm in the 6-2 offense…
"That's something we work on in practice a lot. We actually play with four setters in practice, so the big thing is our feedback loop. If the set is not exactly where we want it, immediately you look to your setter and say higher, faster, further to the pin. That kind of communication is stressed every single day, every single point, so when we're more efficient with that we have better connections, and you can see the difference."
On stopping serve receive errors…
"Honestly, passing is a confidence game. You wouldn't really think so, and there is technique to it, but it is more just saying, 'I'm just going to pass this ball high and off and our setters will do what they will with it.' I think in the third set we did a really good job of not caring how she serves it and just getting our platform under it and pop it up and work with it from there. I think we were caught back because it's a different serve. It's a hybrid which means it's in between a float and a spin. You don't see that very often, so I think we were a little caught off guard, which is annoying because we've been practicing that. It's always different when you're in a game setting though. We just have to know that a serve is a serve, and we're just going to pass it. That has to be our mindset. As long as we simplify it, we will be okay."
For the Bulldogs offense, sophomore Kacie Evans paced the team, registering a season-high 16 kills. She also earned her third double-double of the 2020-21 season with 10 digs.
While Evans was the only Bulldog with double-digit kills, she was one of four with double-digit digs as fellow sophomore Amber Stivrins led the squad with a career-best 16. Senior setter Brynn Chandler and freshman libero Mallory Downing each had 10. Chandler earned a double-double with 16 assists. Thursday's match was the collegiate debut of Downing as she earned the start in the libero jersey.
At the net, junior Sage Naves tied a season high with five blocks. As a team, Georgia (4-5, 4-5) out-blocked Arkansas 14-11.
The match started off with a nail-biter of a set as the opening stanza featured 16 ties and nine lead changes. A service ace by Dalaney Hans gave the Bulldogs a 21-20 lead down the stretch; however, Arkansas rallied back to win three of the next four and take a 23-22 lead. Arkansas drew the first set point at 24-23 but Georgia tied it at 24. The back-and-forth went on as one team would draw set point, then the other. A kill from Stivrins gave Georgia set point at 31-30, but Arkansas prevailed in the set, winning the next three points and taking a 1-0 lead with a 33-31 set one win.
Tied at 3-3 early in set two, a 6-1 Razorback run opened an early 9-4 lead. The Bulldogs would cut it to 16-13 then a 7-0 run broke open the set for Arkansas, 23-13. The Hogs took the set 25-15 and a 2-0 lead in the match.
While the third set was tied four times, Georgia never relinquished the lead in the frame. Knotted at 8-8, a 9-0 run with Stivrins at the service line opened a 17-8 lead for Georgia. Arkansas immediately answered back with five straight to cut it to four, but the Bulldogs were able to halt the Razorback offense and hold on to win the set 25-20 and keep the match alive. Evans tallied six kills and Stivrins nine digs in the third set alone.
Georgia found an early lead and was able to stay out in front much of the four set. With Georgia up 17-14, Arkansas began to narrow the deficit to tie it at 18. Tied at 19, the Razorbacks (7-4, 7-4) began a push to take four-straight rallies and go ahead 22-18. The late push was enough to hold off the Bulldogs as Arkansas won the fourth set 25-21 and the match.
The Bulldogs and Razorbacks will square off again Friday at Stegeman Coliseum. First serve is set for 8:30 p.m. on SEC Network.
Georgia Women's Volleyball Head Coach Tom Black
On Georgia's hitter/setter connections...
"I just think that is something you're constantly training. I mean there was some uncharacteristic play from what we've seen, so I expect that to improve tomorrow. "
On eliminating server runs tomorrow…
"I thought they were swinging for the fences. They were either making an ace or a lot of errors. Then we didn't weather their tough servers very well. We need to manage our scenes better. We just got to be tougher than we were today. We've got to give them credit for their tough serving, but we could manage those better and get better swings out of them."
On Stirvin's 9-0 service run in set three, and how they'll keep runs like that going...
"That's what we will spend tonight doing. Breaking down and seeing where we scored points and how we can get more of those. I think we found a little strategy there in the third set that was starting to pay off. So, we will take a look at that tonight and see what we want to do for our game plan tomorrow."
#21 Amber Stivrins | Sophomore
On the match…
"I think in the first two sets everyone was just kind of waiting for someone to take the reins and just show them how to do it, and I thought that was getting old. I said, 'Come on! I'll do it myself if I have to.' So, I just tried to put in my serve, and I know we can get a good block. We do have a good block if our eyes are just working. I just think if we out work them tomorrow, that's all we really need."
On stopping runs…
"I think a big thing tonight was that everyone felt kind of like they were on an island. Connecting to the people around you and not just playing for you and the glory that comes from you doing well is important. I'm playing for the people next to me, and I want them to do just as well if not better than me. I think us having that mindset of wanting everyone else to do the best they can because that translates into you looking the best you can look. We have to have pride in Georgia and pride in each other, so I think that's going to be our big thing for tomorrow."
On getting rhythm in the 6-2 offense…
"That's something we work on in practice a lot. We actually play with four setters in practice, so the big thing is our feedback loop. If the set is not exactly where we want it, immediately you look to your setter and say higher, faster, further to the pin. That kind of communication is stressed every single day, every single point, so when we're more efficient with that we have better connections, and you can see the difference."
On stopping serve receive errors…
"Honestly, passing is a confidence game. You wouldn't really think so, and there is technique to it, but it is more just saying, 'I'm just going to pass this ball high and off and our setters will do what they will with it.' I think in the third set we did a really good job of not caring how she serves it and just getting our platform under it and pop it up and work with it from there. I think we were caught back because it's a different serve. It's a hybrid which means it's in between a float and a spin. You don't see that very often, so I think we were a little caught off guard, which is annoying because we've been practicing that. It's always different when you're in a game setting though. We just have to know that a serve is a serve, and we're just going to pass it. That has to be our mindset. As long as we simplify it, we will be okay."
Team Stats
Ark
UGa
Kills
54
42
Errors
27
25
Attempts
155
141
Hitting %
.174
.121
Points
74
58
Assists
53
42
Aces
9
2
Blocks
11
14
Game Leaders
Kills
16
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
8
Aces
0
Blocks
2
Kills
7
Aces
0
Blocks
5
Kills
5
Aces
0
Blocks
4
Players Mentioned
S
/ Volleyball
DS
/ VolleyballOH
/ Volleyball
S
/ VolleyballMB
/ VolleyballOH
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