Information from Arkansas Communications is included in this story.
Parker Duncan got two more swings with the match on the line Sunday.
Both found the floor on Texas A&M’s side. Match over.
Arkansas beat No. 12 Texas A&M 3-1 at Barnhill Arena for its first SEC win of the year. The Hogs took it 25-20, 25-17, 20-25 and 25-22.
The Aggies won the national title last season. If you’re going to pick up your first league win, you might as well take it from them.
Arkansas hadn’t beaten a ranked team since the 2023 NCAA Tournament. The Razorbacks knocked off No. 8 Kentucky in the Sweet 16 that year.
The win moves Arkansas to 9-7 overall and 1-4 in the SEC.
The conference record still has some catching up to do. Sunday helps.
Duncan crosses a career milestone
Duncan led everybody with 17 kills, and that pushed her past 500 for her college career.
Laci Bohannan had 11 kills on just two errors. She hit .360 for the day.
Her six blocks were a career high.
Maggie McCarroll is a freshman setter, and Sunday was only her second career start. Sunday was her second. She finished with 34 assists and 12 digs for another double-double.
So far she’s 2-for-2 on those.
Gaby Cornier led the team with 14 digs from the back row.
Arkansas spread the work around, and it showed in the box score.
The net belonged to the Hogs
The Razorbacks outdid A&M 14-9 in blocks.
Aleki Alexander had eight of them. Seven were assisted and one was a solo.
Bohannan was next with six, while Smith added four.
A&M won the first point of the match. After that, the Hogs settled in. A kill from Thurman and an ace by Cornier made it 7-4.
Duncan tipped one over for a five-point lead at the technical timeout. Smith’s kill later stretched it to 21-15, and an A&M attack error ended the set 25-20.
Set 2 started even before Arkansas pulled ahead. Duncan’s back-row kill got the Hogs to 10 first. She added another kill, and McCarroll served an ace for a 15-10 lead at the break.
A&M came out of that timeout with three straight points and later pulled within one. Thurman and Alexander teamed up on a block as Arkansas got to 20 first. Bohannan and Duncan ended it with back-to-back kills, 25-17.
A&M makes it interesting
Down two sets, the Aggies kept swinging.
Arkansas went on a 4-0 run in the third to lead 12-9. Duncan had a kill and a solo block during that stretch. Smith’s kill made it 15-12 at the break.
A&M answered with a 5-1 run for a 21-19 lead. The Aggies kept it and won the set 25-20.
They controlled the start of the fourth, too, until Lakin Laurendine came in to serve. Arkansas ran off enough points with her at the line to tie it 9-9.
McCarroll’s ace was part of a 3-0 run that put the Hogs up 15-14 at the timeout. Bohannan finished another three-point spurt with a solo block for an 18-15 lead.
An A&M attack error left Arkansas two points from the win. The Aggies scored three in a row to make it 23-21 and force a Razorback timeout.
Duncan ended it from there with back-to-back kills.
Crowds keep showing up
Barnhill had 3,261 fans Sunday. Only five crowds in program history have been bigger.
Arkansas drew 5,988 across both home matches this weekend, its biggest weekend total since 2023.
Next week brings two more ranked teams to Fayetteville.
No. 10 Tennessee visits Friday, Oct. 16, at 7 p.m. No. 4 Kentucky comes in Sunday, Oct. 18, at 2 p.m.
