LITTLE ROCK – The UALR volleyball team equaled program bests on Thursday night when it won its 13th consecutive match and its 12th straight to start Sun Belt play. The Trojans, who lead the conference standings, defeated second-place Texas State 3-1 (25-8, 23-25, 25-22, 25-18) at the Jack Stephens Center.

Individually, the night belonged to Edina Selimovic. The sophomore had her first career double-double, setting career highs with 15 kills and an incredible 11 block assists. She was all over the court for UALR, flummoxing the Texas State attack throughout the night and contributing plenty of offense of her own. Selimovic hit a career-high .393 for the match.

UALR (18-4, 12-0 Sun Belt) won the first set in very convincing fashion, hitting .450 as a team and forcing the Bobcats into 12 errors. The Trojans started the night with a 6-2 lead that only expanded. UALR finished on a 19-6 run, scoring six straight points at one point. Texas State finished the set hitting -.235. UALR finished the set with 12 block assists and a team block total of six. Selimovic recorded almost half her blocks for the game in the first set with five block assists.

The second set was much tighter, and Texas State played well for a two-point win. The Bobcats started the set with their largest lead of the frame at 5-1. UALR eventually came back to tie the set at 9-9. From there, it was a back and forth contest as both teams tied the set several times with the last tie coming at 18-18. After a kill by Texas State, they would lead for the rest of the set. It would be the only set in which the Bobcats would hold the higher hitting percentage with a mere .188-.182 advantage.

In the third set, the Trojans were behind late but rallied to tie the set at 22-22. Fittingly, Selimovic got the last kill of the set to give UALR a 2-1 match lead. UALR once again outhit Texas State .262-.191, as well as taking the advantage in blocks by a 4-2 margin.

The fourth set was back to Trojan control. UALR led 8-3 early to force a Bobcats timeout. When Texas State came back within one point at 8-7, the Trojans distanced themselves once again with five consecutive points and never led by fewer than five for the rest of the night. Both teams hit well during the frame, but UALR held the advantage by hitting its second-highest percentage of the night with .324, compared to Texas State’s highest of .250.

Senior Edina Begic had another double-double with 14 kills and a season-high of 17 digs, giving her eight this season and 53 for her career. Begic’s kill total now stands at 1,948.

Junior Sonja Milanovic joined Begic with her 10th double-double of the season, racking up 13 kills and 16 digs. Milanovic recorded her third-highest attack percentage of the season with .357.

Senior Capri Rino led the team with 25 digs, her second-most this season. Her digs total ties for fifth all-time in a four-set match in the rally-scoring era.

Sophomore setter Megan Mathis had 44 assists, her fourth-highest career total. Mathis also set a career high with 6 total blocks, all being block assists.

As a team, the Trojans scooped up a season-high 76 digs and tied for the second-most team blocks with 14. UALR hit .279 for the match, while Texas State hit .112.

UALR looks to break school records for consecutive wins and wins to open conference action when it plays Appalachian State at the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday at 7 p.m. The contest will be the Trojans’ annual Dig Pink game in support of breast cancer awareness and charities.

Conference Leader UALR Stymies Bobcats

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Sun Belt Conference leading UALR Trojans took down Texas State, 3-1 (25-8, 23-25, 25-22, 25-18), Thursday night to stay undefeated in conference play. The Bobcats drop to 14-10 and 9-3 in the SBC this season. With the win, the Trojans tie the team’s longest winning streak of 13 consecutive matches, set just last season.

The match was competitive with both teams jostling for the lead throughout the second and third sets, resulting in 26 ties and 12 lead changes.

Amanda Watkins led the Bobcats with 10 kills, hitting six of them in the third set. She finished the match with just one error on 17 attempts for a .529 hitting percentage. After Watkins, Alexandra Simms had nine kills while Jordan Kohl and Lauren Kirch added seven kills each.

Ali Gonzales and Jordan Moore combined for 38 assists with Gonzalez tallying 20 in addition to two aces. Brenna Lyles, playing the third and fourth sets at libero, led the team in digs with 12 while Keeley Davis finished with 11 digs with six kills and an ace.

The Bobcats tallied six blocks in the match with both Kirch and Watkins in on three each. The Trojans, however, finished with 14 blocks, six coming in the first set.

Edina Selimovic was too much for Texas State as she struck 15 kills with 11 block assists for one of three UALR double-doubles in the match. Edina Begic added 14 kills with 17 digs while Sonja Milanovic finished with 13 kills and 16 digs.

It was a rude awakening for Texas State in the opening set of Thursday’s match. The Bobcats were blocked six times while hitting -.235. The Trojans finished the first set with 11 kills on a .450 percentage led by Edina Selimovic with four kills en route to a 25-8 win in the opening frame. Selimovic was also in on five of UALR’s six first-set blocks.

The Bobcats, however, came storming back in the second set with a 25-23 win. Simms exploded for six kills in the frame while the Bobcats put down 17 kills as a team to hit .220 compared to just 13 kills for UALR on a .182 hitting percentage. Texas State and UALR were even in blocks in the second frame, 2-2.

In addition to Simms, Kirch, Brooke Smith and Kohl all hit three kills apiece in the second set. Davis added two more to keep the Bobcats in control of the second frame.

Gonzales came out and served two aces on each side of a Smith kill to give Texas State a 3-0 lead to start the set. After a UALR point, Smith and Kirch both put down kills to push Texas State’s lead to 5-1. That would be the largest lead in the set as both teams went back and forth with six ties in the set, but Texas State came out on top at the end of it to tie the match, 1-1.

After the intermission, the third set proved to be much like the second. Both teams jostled back and forth throughout the entire set trying to snag the lead in the match. After Simms did it in the second set, Watkins followed with six kills in the third set to pace the Bobcats as they hit for 14 kills in the frame.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as UALR put down 16 kills on a .262 hitting percentage to win the fourth set, 25-22, and go ahead in the match, 2-1. It was close throughout the frame with 17 ties in the set.

The Trojans were able to stay in control through the fourth set, hitting .324 as a team to finish the match at .279. The Bobcats hit .250 in the final set with just three errors, but only 11 kills. Davis and Watkins led Texas State with three kills each in the frame while Simms and Kohl each added two apiece.

Next, the Bobcats return home to host Georgia Southern at 7 p.m. Saturday before taking to the road to face UL Lafayette and South Alabama next weekend.