Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
Arkansas volleyball lost its SEC opener to Auburn last week. The cure, apparently, is a road trip.
The Razorbacks play at Georgia on Friday night and at South Carolina on Sunday afternoon. It’s their first league trip of the season.
They’ll leave town at 8-4 and without a conference win.
Nobody’s panicking over one loss. But 0-2 or 0-3 is a different conversation, and both of these places have given the Hogs trouble.
Start with Athens. Arkansas leads the all-time series with Georgia, which sounds nice until you check the recent visits. The Razorbacks haven’t won there since 2021.
This Bulldogs team isn’t a soft landing, either.
Georgia has lost only to ranked teams
Georgia is 9-2. It won its SEC opener and got votes in this week’s AVCA Coaches Poll.
The two losses? No. 21 Indiana on Sept. 1 and No. 14 Purdue the next day. That’s the whole list.
A couple of weeks later, the Bulldogs went five sets to beat a Georgia Tech team that was receiving votes. That was Sept. 19.
They hit .268. They hold the other side to .185. They serve 1.86 aces a set. Each of those ranks in the top half of the league.
Here’s where the Hogs can feel OK about things. Teams are hitting only .169 against Arkansas, and that’s better than Georgia’s number. The Razorbacks also block more, 2.70 a set to the Bulldogs’ 2.27.
The kills are about even. Arkansas gets 12.43 a set and Georgia gets 12.33.
Friday’s match starts at 6 p.m.
Hogs and Gamecocks both like to block
Then it’s on to Columbia, S.C., for a noon start Sunday.
South Carolina is 7-5 and has lost both of its SEC matches. So whatever happens Friday, the Hogs will see a team on Sunday that needs a win as much as they do.
What the Gamecocks do well is the same thing Arkansas does well. The Razorbacks are second in the SEC in blocks. South Carolina is third at 2.61 a set.
Look past the blocks and it’s still hard to tell these two apart. South Carolina digs 13.41 balls a set. Arkansas digs 13.36. One hits .235 and the other hits .232.
The Hogs do serve a little better, with 1.48 aces a set to the Gamecocks’ 1.13.
All of that probably explains why these teams keep playing long sets. Six of their last 14 meetings had a set go to extra points. Three of those six were in Columbia.
South Carolina won last year’s match. Before that, Arkansas hadn’t lost to the Gamecocks since 2019.
Both matches this weekend are on SEC Network+. Win twice and the Auburn loss won’t sting much. Lose twice and the Razorbacks are 0-3 in the league before the first week of October is over.
