TAT: Final Takeaways From the Week That Was

This article originally appeared in the September 4, 2013 issue of The Arkansas Traveler.

Only two weeks into the 2013 athletics season, Arkansas remains undefeated across three sports. Between women’s soccer, women’s volleyball and football, the Razorbacks are 8-0, as of Sept. 2. Here is a look at how each team has performed so far.

Women’s Soccer

Head coach Colby Hale continues to achieve success at a high rate. Last year, he led the Razorbacks to their first Southeastern Conference tournament since 2000, a school-record six SEC wins and their first victory over a ranked opponent. Now, he has led them to the first 4-0 start in program history.

Before the season, Hale said he was comfortable with his team’s mental toughness and that has been on display a couple of times already. Two of Arkansas’ victories have been by one goal, including a double overtime thriller over SMU.

Offensively, the Razorbacks have scored nine goals and taken more than twice as many shots as their opponents. Senior Ashleigh Ellenwood leads the team with three goals, while junior Allie Tripp has a team-high three assists. On defense, Arkansas is holding their opponents to a .379 shots on goal percentage and 7.25 shots per game.

Women’s Volleyball

For the second consecutive year, the Razorbacks won the Arkansas Invitational at Barnhill Arena, starting the season 3-0. Despite the undefeated record, they did struggle some.

In their third match of the tournament, Arkansas dropped the first two sets to New Mexico, before rallying to win the final three sets. They were 2-6 in five-set matches last season, so a five-set victory this early in the season shows that the team has matured.

A key to their success has been the play of their seniors. Raymariely Santos earned Tournament MVP for her performance. She had two double-doubles, with 28 assists and 10 digs against UMKC and 19 assists and 11 digs against Northwestern State.

Senior Emily Helm was named the Most Outstanding Libero, while seniors Hayley Koop and Ashley Vazquez earned All-Tournament honors.

Football

The Bret Bielema era got off to a good start Saturday, with a 34-14 win over Louisiana.

Arkansas’ two-man attack at running back proved to be as good as advertised, as sophomore Jonathan Williams ran for 151 yards and one touchdown on 18 carries and true freshman Alex Collins added 131 yards on 21 carries.

Quarterback Brandon Allen also had a solid performance in his second career start. He was 15-for-22 for 230 yards and three touchdowns and looked poised in the pocket. Nearly all of his throws were put exactly where they needed to be and he even showed off his arm with a 49-yard touchdown pass.

As expected, the Razorbacks struggled a little on defense. Louisiana’s quarterback had plenty of time in the pocket and felt very little pressure in the first half.

However, Arkansas made adjustments in the second half and finally got to the quarterback, collecting four sacks. Halftime adjustments on defense are something Razorback fans haven’t seen in a long time, so that is an improvement.

On special teams, senior Zach Hocker looked sharp, making a 22- and 34-yard field goal and kicking all five of his kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks. He wasn’t feeling 100 percent, though, Bielema said in the post-game press conference, so he did not handle the punts and he was relieved of his kicking duties in the second half.