Arkansas didn’t waste any time showing off its new season.
The Razorbacks swept the SIUE Cougars in straight sets Friday night at Barnhill Arena, winning 25-14, 25-16 and 25-17 without ever falling behind.
It was the kind of opening statement a young roster hopes to make.
Three Hogs finished with double-digit kills, and each one hit well above .300 on the night.
Senior Lakin Laurendine paced the group with 13 kills while hitting .550, a career best for her. Senior Romani Thurman wasn’t far behind with 11 kills and a personal-best .556 hitting mark of her own.
Sophomore Parker Duncan rounded out the trio with 10 kills and matched that total with 10 digs for a double-double.
She also led the team with three aces, popping up in big moments across all three sets.
As a team Arkansas was nearly flawless at the net.
The Hogs committed just eight hitting errors the entire match and finished at a .481 clip, which is the third-best single-match hitting percentage in program history and the best mark Arkansas has posted since 2022.
A comeback worth celebrating
The night carried extra meaning for sophomore Aleki Alexander.
She stepped onto the Barnhill floor for her long-awaited Razorback debut after being sidelined since 2024 because of injury.
Alexander made the most of it, hitting .667 with four kills and leading the team with three blocks, one of them solo.
Set one belonged to Arkansas from the jump. Back-to-back kills from Laurendine helped the Hogs race out to an 8-1 lead, and SIUE attack errors let the margin balloon to 15-6 by the media timeout.
Duncan strung together two straight kills to push it to 21-11, and Arkansas closed out the set 25-14.
The second set followed a similar script. A 6-0 run to open things capped off with a Duncan ace, and the Hogs were up 15-7 before the Cougars found some fight after the timeout.
Alexander added an ace of her own to reach set point, and SIUE managed a small 3-0 run before Duncan finished it off with a kill that put Arkansas up two sets to none.
Set three sealed the sweep
The final set opened just like the first two, with a block from Kiki Remensperger and Alexander helping Arkansas jump to 7-2.
SIUE settled in for a stretch and cut the deficit to three points, but an attack error paired with a kill from Journey Peppers pushed the Hogs’ lead back out to 19-13, forcing an SIUE timeout.
Arkansas answered with a 4-0 run bookended by two more aces from Duncan, making it 23-13.
The Cougars scrapped their way back a bit, but a final kill from Thurman closed things out at 25-17 and locked up the sweep.
Arkansas isn’t done this weekend.
The Hogs stay home for the Razorback Invitational and take on UT Arlington Saturday at 7 p.m. inside Barnhill Arena, with the match streaming on SEC Network+.
