Saturday, October 1
Trojans Sweep Warhawks
LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock volleyball (6-11, 2-2 Sun Belt) picked up its first home conference victory with a 3-0 (25-11, 25-13, 25-21) sweep of ULM (7-14, 2-2 Sun Belt) at the Jack Stephens Center on Saturday night.
The Trojans' win was the 28th consecutive victory over the Warhawks – a streak that dates back to 1992.
Veronica Marin was the Trojans' top attacker with 11 kills, while Marina Avram and Edina Selimovic had nine apiece. Miona Milovanovic added seven of her own while leading the team with a .417 hitting percentage.
On defense, Avram and Kelsey Leech each had 11 digs, and Taylor Lindberg led the way in assists with 35.
As a team, the Trojans posted 11 service aces and did not allow ULM to have a single ace. Avram alone had a career-high seven aces, tying for the fourth-most in the rally-scoring era at Little Rock.
The third set was the closest of the night, as ULM jumped out to a 10-8 lead and forced the Trojans to use their first timeout of the entire match. But the Trojans exploded with a 9-0 run with Avram serving after the timeout and scored 11 of the next 12 points to take a 19-11 lead. The Warhawks fought to get back into the set but never got closer than three points as Little Rock clinched the victory.
Little Rock jumped out to a 5-2 lead in the second set and never looked back, building its lead throughout the frame. The Trojans had 14 kills in the set on just 24 attacks and only had one attack error as they cruised to a 12-point set win.
The first set was all Little Rock, as the Trojans scored the first six points of the set behind a service run of Avram. The Trojans' lead only grew from there, as they would go on to win the frame by 14 points. Little Rock held ULM to just .045 hitting and had six service aces in the set including the final point.
Carolee Dillard earned five kills and led the match with four blocks. Sydnee Martin scooped up nine digs and earned an ace.
The Trojans will be on the road for the next two weekends, starting with a trip to Texas. Little Rock will take on UT Arlington on Friday and head to Texas State on Saturday.
Eagles Sweep Troy, 3-0
STATESBORO, Ga. – Katie Bange registered 12 kills, 14 assists and six digs to lead Georgia Southern to a 3-0 (25-23, 25-18, 25-16) Sun Belt volleyball victory over Troy Saturday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.
Stephanie Spencer hit .300 with eight kills and 10 digs, and Megan Chevalier posted 10 kills while hitting .438 for Georgia Southern (10-9, 3-1), which has won its last three matches. Kendra Koetter posted 17 assists and 10 digs, and Alex Beecher added 14 digs and five assists.
Symone Shaw collected seven kills to lead Troy (6-13, 0-4), and Savannah Moore tallied six kills and two blocks.
The story
The Eagles got their offense rolling and hit .270 for the match compared to .068 for the Trojans. GS had a three-point lead late in the first set, but Troy fought back, and a kill by Shaw made the score 24-23. GS called a timeout, and Bange put down a kill off a Koetter assist to give the Eagles the 25-23 win.
Bange had five kills in the second set as GS built an 18-10 cushion, and Chevalier notched five kills in the third to help the Eagles hit .423 compared to Troy's .000.
@stAteVolleyball Rolls Past UL Lafayette
JONESBORO, Ark. (10/1/16) – The Arkansas State volleyball team swept Louisiana-Lafayette 3-0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-14) Saturday night at the Convocation Center as the team ran its conference win streak to 20 matches.
The Red Wolves (12-6, 4-0 SBC) were led by Carlisa May’s 13 kills for the second straight match on a .323 hitting percentage. Brentlee Weaver tallied eight, while Kenzie Fields and Jessica Uke recording seven apiece with Uke’s coming on a team-best .538 hitting percentage. Mallory Warrington posted her team-high sixth double-double of the year with 35 assists and 12 digs. Markie Schaedig led the team with 20 digs defensively, while Kelsey Reis had four blocks, including three block solos.
“The key to this match was for us to put pressure on them to score,” A-State head volleyball coach David Rehr said. “They were up in the league standings in several offensive categories, but near the bottom in opponent hitting percentage so we were able to hit for a high percentage and kept them down. As always it was a team effort and of course the way Markie and Mallory play always elevates us to the level we want to be at. We’ve got a tough road trip to Texas coming up though so now it’s time to prepare for them.”
A-State ran out to a 15-7 advantage over the Ragin’ Cajuns (5-13, 2-2 SBC) in set one behind two straight blocks by Reis. ULL called a timeout, but lost two of the next three points and used its second stoppage of the set down to A-State 17-8. The Red Wolves extended the lead to as many as 12 at 24-12 on a kill by Reis before a Weaver kill gave the home team a 25-12 set win.
Louisiana-Lafayette started the second set strongly with a 7-5 edge, but a 4-0 run forced the visitors to call a timeout down 9-7. A-State ran its advantage to 19-10 on a kill by May and was up 24-13 after a kill by Fields. Reis ended the set for the Red Wolves with a kill to set the final at 25-13.
The third set was never in much doubt as Arkansas State raced out to a 9-4 lead on a kill by Fields. The score was extended to 17-9 in favor of A-State after a Weaver kill and the Ragin’ Cajuns used their final timeout. The home team ended the frame on an 8-5 run, capped by a ULL attack error, to win the set 25-14 and clinch the set win 3-0.
A-State hit .339 to the Ragin’ Cajuns’ .071 and had three aces while Louisiana had zero. The Red Wolves also had eight blocks to ULL’s five.
Arkansas State continues league play Oct. 7 with a road contest versus Texas State. First serve from San Marcos is set for 6:30 p.m.
GSU CAPS UNDEFEATED WEEKEND WITH VICTORY OVER JAGUARS
ATLANTA – On Saturday night, Georgia State made a statement by defeating South Alabama in four sets. The Panthers took the match by a final of 24-26, 25-23, 25-12 and 25-20. Head coach Sally Polhamus and the Panthers improve to 6-9 overall and 2-2 in the Sun Belt.
For the second straight night, GSU used a balanced offensive attack to earn its sixth win of the season.
Sophomore Crystal Lee led the way with 13 kills, six of which came in the opening set. Seniors Kristina Stinson and Eliza Zachary added reinforcements with 12 kills apiece.True freshman Sydney Stroud played a larger role and contributed six kills to help carry the Panthers.
South Alabama took the first set of the match with Iva Durdanovic getting off to a hot start offensively. She led the Jaguars with 13 kills and Kelley Hartman added another eight to make the match competitive down the stretch.
Mechell Daniel, Crystal Lee and Celeste Friesen led the Jaguar and Panther defensive effort. Daniel totaled 15 digs and Lee and Friesen’s one-two punch amounted to 22 digs on the night.
After dropping the first set, Georgia State set the tone and bounced back nicely. The Panthers took sets two and three by finals of 25-23 and 25-12. Zachary proved vital to GSU as she totaled all 12 of her kills in sets two through four.
The Panthers outscored the Jaguars in the ace department 13-3 on the match. Anna Rantala and Kristina Stinson served four aces each and Lee added three of her own. Although South Alabama doubled up Georgia State in blocks, GSU had 10 more kills on Saturday night.
After defeating Troy and South Alabama at home, the team will look to continue defending home court against Coastal Carolina and Appalachian State next weekend. Both matches start at 6:00 p.m.
Coastal Volleyball Blanks UT Arlington in Three Sets
ARLINGTON, Texas - The Coastal Carolina volleyball team recorded its second straight win against a Sun Belt opponent Saturday night with a three-set sweep of UT Arlington (25-21, 25-19, 25-15).
The Chanticleers improve to 12-4, 3-1 with their ninth straight-sets victory of the season. UT Arlington, meanwhile, drops below .500 to 9-10, 3-1.
Leah Hardeman continued her streak of impressive play as the junior recorded her fifth straight double-double with team highs of 17 kills and 14 digs. Hardeman added a .405 hitting percentage, surpassed only by the .722 hitting percentage of Annyaka Legros who also put down 13 kills. Tahleia Bishop added 10 kills to round out the Chanticleers in double figures in the category.
Sara Boothe dished out 28 assists to lead the match and help the Chanticleers hit .310 as a team. Coastal also held team advantages in digs (57-51) and blocks (4-3).
The entire match saw the lead change hands just three times as Coastal overcame early deficits in the first two sets before leading start to finish in the third.
UT Arlington threatened to pull away in the first set before Coastal used a timeout while trailing 12-7. A little while later a run of five straight points helped the Chants pull in front to a 17-15 lead and remain ahead for the rest of the set.
Coastal's attack clicked at a .333 pace in the middle frame, and was powered by the five kills of Bishop and four apiece from Hardeman and Legros. Coastal held a slim 17-16 lead midway through the set, but closed the game on an impressive 8-3 run to take a 2-0 match lead into the break.
The Chants opened the third with four straight points on the serve of Boothe, though UT Arlington nearly evened the set a little later after trailing by just a point at 12-11. Coastal then used an 8-2 run to build a comfortable advantage, and closed the match with kills from Bishop and Dora Lulic, as well as a pair of service aces from Shelby Ladewig.
The Chants return to the court next weekend with a pair of away matches at Georgia State on Friday at 6 p.m. and Georgia Southern on Saturday at 6:30 p.m.