2-0 start in SEC big step So what did Arkansas Coach Gordon Henderson have to say about the Razorbacks winning soccer matches at Ole Miss and Mississippi State last weekend ?

“To win two road games in the SEC is a very, very hard thing to do, no matter if you’re the top team in the league or the bottom team in the league,” he said.

For Arkansas, such results are especially remarkable. The Razorbacks previously had won back-to-back SEC road matches only four times, and their overall record of 9-1-0 represents the best 10-game start in program history.

“There’s a ton of work — a ton of work — to be done,” Henderson said of his team’s fast start, “but we’ll enjoy it for now.” Arkansas, which is 2-0-0 in SEC play, will look for more road victories when it plays at Georgia (2-7-1, 0-1-1 ) on Friday and at Tennessee (3-7-0, 0-2-0 ) on Sunday.

Henderson said this year’s team actually is benefiting from the struggles recent teams have endured. The best example of that might have been Sunday’s 1-0 victory at Mississippi State, which came after eight players went to a local emergency room because of a stomach virus.

“I think some of the tough times that they’ve been through really helped them from a psychological standpoint on Sunday because that wasn’t easy,” Henderson said.

Henderson said continuing to win SEC matches, especially on the road, won’t get any easier but that the two early victories have established a newfound confidence in the Razorbacks. “This year we are going [on the road ] knowing we can win,” Henderson said. “That’s been building for four years.” WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY Duck hunting Women’s cross country coach Lance Harter had a simple solution when his team told him last spring it wanted to be tested against the best prior to this season’s conference and national championship meets. Harter called Oregon, home not only of the nation’s topranked team, but one Harter deemed “maybe one of the best that a women’s team has been able to assemble in the last 10 years.” Now 11 th-ranked Arkansas is two days away from competing at the Oregon-hosted Bill Dellinger Invitational, which also features No. 17 Colorado State and No. 23 Brigham Young. “We’re going to go out and see the best of the best... and try to give them a good run,” Harter said. While Arkansas is anchored by seniors Denise Bargiachi, Dacia Barr Perkins and Christine Kalmer, sophomore Catherine White has been the squad’s surprise leader early this season. “My job is more or less to put a bridle in her teeth and dig my heels into the ground and slow her downs,” Harter said of White, “but she’s a good listener and very, very coachable.” VOLLEYBALL Silver lining Despite home losses to 10 th-ranked Florida and South Carolina last weekend, Coach Robert Pulliza will be in a relatively good mood when he takes Arkansas’ volleyball team (4-9, 1-2 ) on the road for matches at Georgia (7-8, 0-4 ) and LSU (6-5, 1-3 ) on Friday and Sunday.

“I can tell you that I liked a lot more things than what I didn’t like,” Pulliza said of last week’s matches.

Other than an occasional lull in intensity, Arkansas showed vast improvement last week. That was evident in the 3-2 loss to South Carolina, in which Arkansas posted season highs in kills (62 ), attempts (184 ), digs (89 ) and blocks (12 ). MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY Training time Men’s cross country coach Chris Bucknam was pleased with the performances of Arkansas’ top four finishers at last week’s Stanford Invitational, but now is focused on the threeweek training period until the annual Chile Pepper Festival. Senior Scott MacPherson paced the Razorbacks last week, while Eric Fernandez picked up SEC freshman of the week honors for his effort. It’s what the next group of runners do in the meantime, though, that most interests Bucknam. “You want those guys in the middle... to gravitate to the front, not gravitate to the back,” Bucknam said. “These three weeks, and certainly at Chile Pepper, we’ll find out which way they went.” ODDS & ENDS Top-ranked singles tennis player Aurelija Miseviciute opens play at the Riviera / ITA Women’s All-American Championships in Los Angeles today, and teams with Ela Kaluder as the 10 thseeded doubles team. The Arkansas men’s tennis team will send seven players to the South Carolina Fall Invitational, which begins Friday. Coach Robert Cox said this weekend’s results will go a long in way in determining the bottom half of the Razorbacks’ lineup. Arkansas’ softball team continues fall season play with Saturday games against Drury (1: 30 p.m. ) and Crowder (Mo. ) College (4 p.m. ).