Box Score ARLINGTON, Texas – The Trojans won the first two sets handily and shook off a tough start in the fourth frame as UALR (14-4, 6-0 Sun Belt Conference) defeated UT Arlington (11-8, 4-2 SBC) 25-21, 25-18, 18-25, 25-22 Friday night (Oct. 11).
With the win, UALR improved its winning streak to 12 matches overall and eight straight on the road. The Trojans are 8-1 in true road matches on the season.
The Trojans outhit the Mavericks .236-.196 and had 62 kills compared to UT Arlington's 49 spikes. The UALR back row out-dug UTA 68-53 while the Mavericks were able to stay in the match thanks to an 11-8 edge at the net.
Individually, junior Edina Begic led UALR with 20 kills while sophomore Sonja Milanovic contributed 19. Junior Marleen de Zoete had a match-best 45 assists while classmate Allison Wyatt added a season-best 17 digs.
Junior Capri Rino contributed 14 digs and freshman Carolee Dillard had six blocks.
For UT Arlington, Shelby Dickson had a double-double with 10 kills and 17 digs. Taylor Gross led the Mavericks with 11 kills. Amanda Welsh and Cassidy Wheeler split setting duties with 26 and 17 assists, respectively.
Caitlyn Cooney added 15 digs while Charmaine Whitmore had nine blocks and eight kills.
Both teams had a five-point edge in the fourth set, but it was the Trojans who scored the final three points to win the match. A UT Arlington assisted block tied the frame at 22 and forced a UALR timeout. The Trojans responded as a Milanovic kill hit off the UT Arlington block and went out of bounds to put UALR up 23-22. Begic's 20th kill put UALR on match point.
The Mavericks may have won the battle of the net overall, but a wall put up by Begic and Dillard could not be controlled by UTA as UALR claimed the road win in four sets.
UALR came out on fire to begin the match, scoring the first seven points of the first set and never trailing in the frame. Milanovic began on serve and a UTA attack error and Milanovic ace put UALR up 2-0. A kill by Dillard, a pair from Begic and de Zoete slam off of Milanovic's bump put UALR up 6-0. UT Arlington called timeout, but a de Zoete kill off of Rino's dig put UALR up 7-0.
UT Arlington tied the set at 10, but a 4-0 run put the Trojans ahead for good. Begic and Milanovic started the runs with kills before junior Adisa Hodzic's only ace put UALR up three. Milanovic and Dillard put the exclamation point on the run with an assisted block. UTA cut the deficit to 21-19 later in the set with kills by Gross and Hannah Baptiste, but kills by Begic and freshman Rachel Williams put UALR back up four. Both teams sided out the frame as UALR took set one 25-21.
Set two began with the Mavericks edging out to a 5-3 lead. Hodzic and de Zoete cut the deficit to one on a block before UTA had trouble with de Zoete's float serve as UALR went up by two. An error by the home team tied the set and a two kills from Begic put the Trojans up 7-5. UTA sided out but kills from Begic, Williams and Milanovic with Begic's lone ace pushed UALR out to an 11-6 lead. UT Arlington made the set close and trailed 21-17, but UALR scored four of the final five points in the frame to go up two sets. A Williams kill and UTA error put UALR up six. UT Arlington's Dickson recorded a kill, but Milanovic notched the final two points on kills to send the match to intermission with UALR up two sets.
Set three saw the Mavericks take the momentum from the first point. Four UALR errors around a Begic kill put UTA up 4-1. Gross punctuated the 5-1 run with a kill before Begic put the Tronjans on serve with an overpass that fell to the court. UALR never climbed within three the rest of the set. Kills by Whitmore and Gross ended the set as UTA won the third by seven.
The Mavericks took advantage of three UALR errors and kills from Dickson and Gross to go up 5-0 in the fourth set. A kill by Milanovic, a UTA error and a Dillard kill off a freeball brought UALR back within 5-3. Both teams managed runs the rest of the way, but UALR had the final spurt for the 25-22 set win and 3-1 victory in the match.
UALR returns to action Sunday (Oct. 13) when it travels to San Marcos, Texas, to take on Texas State (13-8, 3-3 SBC). The Bobcats fell on Friday night to Arkansas State in five sets.
