Tuesday, October 14, 2014
UALR Wins 10th Straight in Sweep of Rival Arkansas State
LITTLE ROCK – The UALR volleyball team remained undefeated in Sun Belt Conference play with a dominant 3-0 (25-8, 25-23, 25-15) sweep of in-state rival Arkansas State at the Jack Stephens Center on Tuesday night.
UALR’s sweep of Arkansas State was the first since 2008, and was the first home sweep against the Red Wolves since 2007.
Sonja Milanovic led the Trojans (15-4, 9-0 SBC) with her seventh double-double of the season on a team-high 14 kills and 11 digs. Senior Edina Begic tallied 12 kills, and setter Megan Mathis had 36 assists. The Trojans also out-blocked the Red Wolves by a margin of 16 to 3.5.
The Trojans set the mood with an incredible first set. With the teams knotted at 5-5 in the early stages, UALR scored 20 of the next 23 points to claim its second-most lopsided set win of the season and its most lopsided set win ever against the Red Wolves. Before Tuesday night, UALR had never held Arkansas State below 12 points in a set in the rally scoring era. Helping the Trojans be so dominate was the Red Wolves’ -.138 hitting percentage, while the Trojans hit their highest percentage of the match with .560.
After UALR jumped out to an 8-3 lead to start the second set, Arkansas State tightened the set by going on a 6-1 run to tie the set at 9-9. After a kill, the Red Wolves held hold their only lead of the set at 10-9. The Trojans then inched their way to a five-point lead at 18-13 before the Red Wolves would catch up to tie the set at 21. Arkansas State hung around for the rest of the set before an attack error gave UALR the win.
The final set saw Arkansas State fighting to stay alive as they took an early lead, but UALR came back to tie at 10 before taking the frame over on a 15-5 run. The Trojans would score in two to four point spurts for the rest of the set, allowing the Red Wolves only one point at a time. Sophomore Edina Selimovic contributed with two service aces in a row during the run, giving her three for the match. UALR rocked a .448 hitting percentage for the set, while Arkansas State sported its second-lowest set of the night with .111.
Begic’s hit an even .400 for the match on 25 attempts, while her 12 kills now puts her career total at 1,905.
Milanovic’s 14 kills and attack percentage of .429 were the highest this season against a conference opponent.
Mathis’ 36 assist was the highest total in a three-set match this season, while her nine digs were the highest against a conference opponent.
Sophomore Carolee Dillard tallied seven kills, while fellow sophomore Kelsey Leech added six digs, her second-highest total of the season.
UALR’s .418 attack percentage was the highest this season against a conference opponent, while Arkansas State’s 18 errors played a large part in its .102 hitting percentage.
UALR returns to action on Friday at Troy at 6 p.m., looking to get off to a 10-0 start in conference action.
A-State Volleyball Falls to UALR
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (10/14/14) – The Arkansas State volleyball squad saw its six-match winning streak end as the Red Wolves dropped a 3-0 (8-25, 23-25, 15-25) decision to UALR Tuesday night at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, Ark.
The Red Wolves (11-6, 6-2) and Trojans (15-4, 9-0) battled to a 5-5 tie before UALR took control and ended the set on a 20-3 run to earn a 25-8 first set victory. UALR raced out to a 9-4 lead in the second set, but A-State rallied to take a 10-9 lead on a Mallory Warrington kill. The Trojans appeared to gain control again at 21-16, but a 5-0 run, capped by a Hannah Robey service ace tied the set at 21-21. It was tied again at 23-23, but two straight UALR points gave the Trojans a 25-23 set victory and 2-0 lead.
A-State had a solid start to the third set by taking a 7-5 edge after a UALR attack error, but UALR fought back using a 5-1 run to take a 10-8 advantage. A-State tied the set at 10-10 on a block by Jessica Uke, Drew Jones, and Sarah Kemp, but were never able to take the lead again as UALR ended the set on a 15-5 run to win the set 25-15 and the match by a count of 3-0.
“I was disappointed with how we started out the match,” A-State volleyball coach David Rehr said. “We competed really well in the second set and the effort was there. We fought hard and there were some things that happened that were out of our control, but we will work hard in practice to get better before our trip to UT Arlington and Texas State this weekend.”
Kelsey Reis led the Red Wolves with eight kills on a .500 hitting percentage, while Kariana Castanon-Hill added six of her own. Warrington handed out 21 assists, while Jessica Heuertz and Robey both registered a service ace each. Defensively, Markie Schaedig tallied 14 digs, while Jones and Uke each recorded two blocks.
Arkansas State returns to action Friday, Oct. 17 on the road versus UT Arlington. First serve from Arlington, Texas is set for 7 p.m., and fans can keep up with the entire match’s action by following @AStateGameday on Twitter. For the latest on the A-State volleyball team follow the squad on Twitter (@stAteVolleyball).
Baylor Takes Down Cajuns In Four Sets
WACO, Texas – Sara Mossakowski had 14 kills and the Ragin’ Cajuns rallied to extend the match with a third-set win, but the Cajuns still fell in four sets, 3-1 (25-18, 25-20, 24-26, 25-12) in non-conference action on Tuesday at the Ferrell Center.
It was just the third-ever meeting for the Cajuns (15-6) against the Bears (11-9), and Louisiana’s first trip to Waco. But the Bears got 17 kills from Andie Malloy and Tola Itiola and hit .265 for the match to hold off Louisiana.
Mossakowski reached double-figures once again with 14 kills on 38 swings, adding six digs. Chanelle Gardner added 11 scores on 31 attacks with a pair of blocks. Andrea Hole just missed her 15th double-double of the season with 36 assists and nine digs.
Caitlyn Auxilien finished with a team-high 17 digs, while Stacey Reilly added 10 digs and eight kills.
The Bears hit .281 in the first set and held the Cajuns to just .091 in jumping out to a 1-0 lead. Louisiana held in early on, trailing just 11-10 after kills by Reilly and Mossakowski; however, Baylor then scored five of the next seven points to stretch things out before closing it out on a Cajun attack error.
Mossakowski had four kills in the second set and the Cajuns hit a solid .250, but the Bears did not cool off and scored 17 kills with just four attacks in the set. Malloy had five of her 17 kills in the second frame and the Bears found themselves up 17-9 before the Cajuns managed to rally back and cut the lead to 20-17 later in the set. From there, though, Baylor turned it on, going on an 8-3 run to take a 2-0 lead into the halftime break.
Gardner proved to be the hot hand in the third set, scoring six kills on 12 attacks with a pair of blocks in helping the Cajuns scratch their way back into the match. An 8-3 run broke open an 8-8 tie and gave Louisiana a 16-11 lead. The advantage swelled to 21-14 before the Bears began their comeback, scoring eight of the next nine points to tie the set at 22-22. A kill from Gardner put the Cajuns back in front, but UL had to fight off a match-point try two points later and once again did so with a kill from Gardner. That score sparked a 3-0 spurt to end the set, getting a pair of Baylor miscues to cut the lead to 2-1.
But the fourth set was not kind to UL, as the Cajuns hit just -.032 in the final frame. Meanwhile, the Bears were steady once again, hitting .286 and getting three kills apiece from Malloy and Itiola. The Cajuns found themselves down 7-3 early on and could not climb out of the whole as the Bears continued to add to the lead, upping it to as much as 13 on the match’s final point.
The Ragin’ Cajuns will now travel east to enter back into conference play, taking on Appalachian State in Boone, N.C., on Friday and Georgia Southern in Statesboro, Ga., on Sunday. Louisiana already owns wins over both teams earlier in the season in Lafayette.