Sunday, September 25
Little Rock Sweeps App State for First Sun Belt Win
BOONE, N.C. – Little Rock volleyball (5-10, 1-1 Sun Belt) finished its road trip with a 3-0 sweep (25-13, 26-24, 25-15) of Appalachian State (2-13, 0-2 Sun Belt) on Sunday afternoon at Varsity Gym.
Marina Avram went off for the Trojans as she tallied 13 kills on 25 attempts with no errors, hitting .520 for the match. Carolee Dillard hit a career-high .700 with seven kills on 10 attempts while also tallying three total blocks (one solo and two assisted). Taylor Lindberg led the match with 28 assists while earning four kills, an ace and five digs.
The Trojans came out strong in the first set with a 12-point win over the Mountaineers. Avram put up a set-high seven kills on 10 attempts with no errors. Little Rock as a team hit .379 with 13 kills and two errors on 29 attempts. Miona Milovanovic recorded three blocks (one solo and two assisted).
The Mountaineers put the pressure on the Trojans in the second frame. As Little Rock earned set point at 24-19, Appalachian State strung together five consecutive points to knot the set at 24. The Trojans managed to hang on as the Mountaineers committed a service error before Veronica Marin put down a hard kill to end the set. Little Rock hit .333 with 13 kills and had only one attack error in the frame.
Little Rock finished off App State with another double-digit win in the third set as the Trojans led from the wire. With match point, Lindberg put down an ace to give Little Rock its first Sun Belt win of the year. The Trojans hit .667 in the final set with 15 kills and just one error on 21 attempts.
Marin ended the match with eight kills and a .412 hitting percentage. Kelsey Leech scooped up a match-high nine digs with an ace. Milovanovic earned five kills with three blocks. Edina Selimovic had four kills and one block.
The Trojans hit .430 for the match, its second-best performance of the season. Little Rock also outblocked Appalachian State 6-0.
Little Rock returns to action against Louisiana on Friday at the Jack Stephens Center.
@stAteVolleyball Rallies for Win at CCU
CONWAY, S.C. (9/25/16) – The Arkansas State volleyball team fell behind 2-1 to Coastal Carolina, but rallied to register a 3-2 (25-12, 21-25, 20-25, 27-25, 15-9) come-from-behind win over the Chanticleers Sunday afternoon at the HTC Center in Conway, S.C.
The meeting between the Red Wolves (10-6, 2-0 SBC) and Coastal Carolina (10-4, 1-1 SBC) was the first one all-time and proved to be a classic as A-State was able to run its Sun Belt Conference win streak to 18 matches.
Arkansas State trailed 2-1 entering set four and jumped out to a 4-1 edge before a 9-2 run by the Chanticleers put the visitors behind 10-6. The Red Wolves battled back to tie the set 13-13 and the game eventually wound up tied 19-19 before two straight points by Coastal made the score 21-19. CCU earned match point twice at 24-23 and 25-24 before two bad sets by Coastal Carolina, sandwiched around a Carlisa May kill, gave A-State three straight points and a 27-25 set win.
The decisive fifth set began with the Red Wolves jumping out to a 6-3 advantage on a kill by Kelsey Reis that forced CCU to call a timeout. A-State kept the pressure on by extending the lead to 11-6 on a kill by May, which saw the Chanticleers use their final timeout of the set. Coastal Carolina got within 13-9 on a block, but consecutive kills by Jessica Uke and Brentlee Weaver clinched a 15-9 win for the Red Wolves to finish the team’s 3-2 comeback win.
“We fought really hard today,” A-State head volleyball coach David Rehr said. “I’m very proud of the effort we showed throughout the match. We came out and made them uncomfortable in set one, but they were more like themselves the rest of the match and showed why they were the Big South Conference champions a season ago. They are a very athletic team and very talented, but we were up to the challenge.”
May led the team with 16 kills, while Kenzie Fields secured her third double-double of the season with 14 kills on a career-high .279 hitting percentage and 13 digs. Uke added 10 kills on a .500 attacking mark with a team-high three blocks, while Reis came off the bench to add six kills on a .750 hitting percentage along with two blocks. Mallory Warrington handed out 54 assists to pace the A-State offense, while Markie Schaedig led the defense with a season-high 36 digs.
“It was a total team effort today for us,” continued Rehr. “Kenzie had a great match though and really helped out the offense and defense. I also have to point out Kelsey coming off the bench for us and having a really couple of sets after struggling some early in the year. Markie had a great match and Mallory keeps doing a fantastic job leading our offense. We’re ready to come home and play some home conference matches next weekend.”
A-State dominated set one by racing out to a 13-4 advantage on a kill by Fields that forced the Chanticleers to use their second timeout of the set. The visiting team stretched their lead out to 18-5 and didn’t look back as Fields ended the set on a kill to set the final score for game one at 25-12.
However, the next two sets were a different story with Coastal running out to a 9-2 edge in set two. A-State would rally to tie the set 11-11 and force a timeout by the home team. The two teams traded points all the way to 21-21 before a 4-0 run, capped by a service ace from Shelby Ladewig, gave the Chanticleers a 25-21 win.
Set three was close throughout, but A-State appeared to take control late with a 19-16 edge. Coastal Carolina did not back down though and ended the set on a 9-1 run to earn a 25-20 set win and set the A-State deficit at 2-1 before the Red Wolves mounted their comeback.
Arkansas State returns to the Convocation Center Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 for its first home league matches of the season against ULM and Louisiana-Lafayette. First serve for both matches is scheduled for 6 p.m.
Momentum continues as Mavs sweep road trip
TROY, Ala. – For the first time since 2007, UT Arlington has opened up its road conference schedule with a 2-0 record. The Mavericks completed the feat with a 3-0 win over Troy on Sunday at Trojan Arena in Sun Belt play.
UTA, ending a brief two-game trip to open up the SBC campaign, improved to 8-9 overall and will have the opportunity to move back to .500 as it opens up a five-match homestand that begins at College Park Center on Friday vs. Appalachian State.
Using several runs to take command of the match, a big 16-3 run (helped along by an 11-0 push) pushed the Mavericks to a big opening-set win. Kaitlyn Granger led with three kills in the first and had a match-high six after two. In the second, the teams played a bit closer with the match tied at 20 apiece. However, UTA took control with another run, this time it was a 5-1 spurt that closed out the second.
The Mavericks continued their momentum to start off the third with a quick 3-0 start to the set and never looked back. Similarly to the first, UTA powered a 10-4 run to pull away and close out the match.
PLAYERS OF THE MATCH
Three Mavericks finished tied with seven kills as the UTA offense hit .278 in the match. Zhanelle Geathers was an efficient 7-of-11 as she combined with Granger and Madison McConnell on the scoreboard with seven.
KEY STATS
The Mavs out blocked the Trojans 13-4 with eight block assists coming from Marisah Ingram. McConnell joined in on the action with five block assists. … Troy finished with 29 attack errors compared to UTA's eight. … Troy hit just .010 overall. … It is the second consecutive year that UTA is 2-0 to start conference play.
UP NEXT
UTA returns back to College Park Center on Friday to host Appalachian State in Sun Belt action. The match is the first of five in a row at home for UTA.
Bobcats earn 3-2 road win over USA
MOBILE, Ala. – The Texas State volleyball team came from behind to defeat South Alabama 3-2 (25-18, 19-25, 21-25, 25-18, 15-12) Sunday afternoon at Jag Gym.
The Bobcats improved to 9-8 overall and 2-0 in Sun Belt Conference play, while the Jaguars dropped to 9-6 on the year and 0-2 in the league.
Three different Texas State players recorded at least 10 kills, led by 13 each from seniors Shelby Vas Matt and Lauren Kirch. Junior Jaliyah Bolden added 11 of her own, and Vas Matt added 14 digs for a double-double.
True freshman Micah Dinwiddie tallied a season-high 27 digs, while junior Erin Hoppe dished out 45 assists. Senior Ali Hubicsak also registered 10 digs.
The first set went in favor of Texas State by a score of 25-18. The Jaguars held a 16-12 lead at one point, but the visitors rattled off 13 of the final 15 points to lay claim to take the early advantage.
USA evened the match by winning the second set 25-19. The home team powered ahead 7-2 in the early going, and TXST was never able to get closer than four points the rest of the way.
The third set went back-and-forth as the two sides jockeyed for position, but it was South Alabama who would break an 18-18 deadlock to win 25-21.
Texas State fought back to send the contest into a fifth and decisive set after winning the fourth 25-18. A Kirch kill at 6-6 gave the Bobcats a 7-6 edge, and they never relinquished the lead the rest of the set.
TXST carried the momentum over into the fifth set, as the visiting side went ahead 3-1 and never looked back.
Texas State outhit USA .163 to .134. The visitors also led in blocks (15-10), aces (5-3) and kills (59-52).
Kellyn Reeves paced the Jaguars with 26 assists and 14 digs. Mechell Daniel had a match-high 19 kills, while Iva Durdanovic added 12. Emma Anderson compiled a double-double with 16 assists and 10 digs. Abby Baker (20) and Arissa Chappell (12) also registered double-figure digs.
The Bobcats are set to return home for four-straight league matches. First up will be a showdown against league newcomer Coastal Carolina, which is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Sept. 30 inside Strahan Coliseum. The event will also be the annual Pink Out match to help support breast cancer awareness.