Saturday, December 6, 2014
UALR Volleyball Ends Historic, Record-Breaking Season at 30-5
TOPEKA, Kan. – The UALR volleyball team’s record-breaking season came to an end on Saturday night as Oregon State rallied from behind to take a 3-2 (25-15, 19-25, 22-25, 28-26, 19-17) victory over the Trojans in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at the Kansas Expocentre.
Senior Edina Begic ended her stellar career with a team-high 20 kills and a personal season-high of 22 digs. She ends the season with 14 double-doubles and 59 for her career.
Senior Capri Rino led all Trojans with 37 digs in her final game with the team, setting a new career-high. Her 37 digs were the third-most in a match in UALR history and second-most in the rally-scoring era.
Senior Adisa Hodzic had one kill and three block assists in her final game with UALR.
Oregon State easily claimed the first set after jumping on UALR early, but the match was largely in the Trojans’ favor after that. UALR won the second set by six points and claimed the third by three.
In the fourth, UALR had four separate match points to clinch a berth in the Sweet 16 starting with a 24-22 lead, but Oregon State fought back on each of them and eventually won the set in extra points. In the fifth set, the Trojans again had match point at 14-12, 14-13, 15-14 and 17-16, but the Beavers responded and eventually claimed the tightly contested match.
The match was just the third five-set contest for UALR all season and came exactly 24 hours after the Trojans played a grueling five-set affair against Kansas.
Junior Sonja Milanovic tallied her highest kill total of the season with 20 and set a new career-high with 26 digs. Milanovic ends the season with 20 double-doubles.
Sophomore Megan Mathis tied her career-high for assists with 56. She also added five kills and five block assists.
Sophomore Carolee Dillard set a career-high with 11 kills and tied her season-high with eight total blocks. Dillard also set a career-high for attack percentage in a match with .333.
Sophomore Edina Selimovic recorded her second-most kills in a match for her career with 13. She also tied her career-high for hitting percentage with .393.
Sophomore Kelsey Leech tied her season-high with nine digs.
As a team, the Trojans’ 70 kills, 224 attempts, 64 assists, and 114 digs were all season-highs. UALR’s 114 digs were the sixth-most in UALR history and second-most in the rally-scoring era. The Trojans’ 224 attack attempts were the ninth-most in UALR history and fourth-most in the rally-scoring era.
UALR set all kinds of program records during the season, winning the Sun Belt regular-season title with a perfect 20-0 record and also claiming the league’s tournament title by sweeping through all three of its matches. UALR held the nation’s longest winning streak before tonight with 25 consecutive victories, and the team’s RPI of 31 was the highest it had ever been. The Trojans won their first-ever NCAA Tournament game on Friday night, upsetting No. 16 national seed Kansas in five sets.
UALR’s .274 attack percentage for the season is the highest in program history while the team’s 1,649 kills and 1,509 assists are the third-most in the rally-scoring era. The Trojans’ 590 block assists and 372 total blocks are the most in program history.
Rino graduates with the ninth-most digs in UALR rally-scoring history at 771 and third-most digs per set with 3.54.
Hodzic graduates with the second-most block assists (310) and third-most total blocks (336) in UALR rally-scoring history. Hodzic has played the sixth-most set for UALR in the rally-scoring era with 413.
Begic graduates as the greatest hitters in program history, leading UALR with 2,189 career kills, 4.71 kills per set, and 5,418 attempts. Begic’s 163 service aces are the fourth-most in UALR history, while her 1,269 digs are the second-most. She has played the most sets in UALR rally-scoring history with 465. Begic broke her own NCAA record with 8 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week awards for the season and set a new Sun Belt record by earning her third Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year award.