Box Score STARKVILLE, Miss. – Junior Edina Begic ran her double-double streak to eight matches while classmates Adisa Hodzic and Marleen de Zoete narrowly missed their own double-dips as UALR beat Mississippi State 3-1 (25-22, 23-25, 25-20, 25-17) Saturday afternoon in the final match of the Maroon Classic.
“We saw improvement the entire weekend," head coach Van Compton explained. "This is what pre-conference is for, to see where you are and what you can work on. It was great competition for our first weekend. We also saw some things that we need to work on."
Begic recorded 15 kills and 18 digs for the Trojans while de Zoete added 43 assists and nine digs. Hodzic narrowly missed her first career double-double with 10 kills and nine blocks. Sophomore Sonja Milanovic contributed 11 spikes while junior Capri Rino had 18 digs.
Freshman Kelsey Leech chipped in the UALR defense with 11 digs.
In the team stats, MSU led in kills 55-54 but the Trojans hit .245 to Mississippi State's .145. The biggest advantage for UALR came on the block, 19.5-4.
“We work a lot in practice on blocks. We were a bit surprised we did not block better yesterday,” Compton said. “I think it was early jitters and not being able to follow the ball to set the block. We were better in the second match last night and it really showed today.
“We should be a really good blocking team this year,” Compton added.
Individually for Mississippi State, Kimmy Gardiner had 15 kills while Alex Warren had 14. Suzanne Horner had 47 assists while Roxanne McVey dug a match-high 29 balls.
The first set went back and forth until Mississippi State broke UALR's serve to go up 22-21. An attack error by the Bulldogs put Milanovic on serve. Begic broke back against MSU with a kill and UALR led 23-22. Another error by the home team put UALR on set point before a Begic found a hole up the middle on a swing. The Trojans won the set 25-22, led by Begic's seven kills and redshirt freshman Carolee Dillard's four blocks.
Set two was full of service runs that saw the Bulldogs come out on top to tie the score. Milanovic began the frame with a kill, and three straight MSU errors put UALR up 4-0. A McVey ace for the home team knotted the set at 12 before de Zoete's overhand serve gave UALR a huge lead. A Begic-Hodzic block put de Zoete on serve. An assisted block from Hodzic and freshman Rachel Williams put the Trojans up and forced an MSU timeout. Williams and Begic kills around a pair of MSU errors gave the visitors an 18-12 edge and forced an MSU timeout. The Bulldogs responded with a 12-3 run to go on set point before a Milanovic and Begic kill cut the UALR deficit to 24-23. A Warren shot down the line just stayed in the court as MSU tied the match.
Set three was close until a service run put UALR up three. Milanovic tied the match at 16 before two straight attack errors, the second a Dillard solo block, put the visitors up 18-16. Out of the breather, de Zoete went over the net with a dump that just nicked the line to put UALR up three. Up 21-19 the Trojans got its block on as Hodzic-Begic teamed up for an assisted block while Milanovic followed with a solo stuff to put UALR up 23-19. Begic added an ace for good measure to put the Trojans on set point. Both teams sided out on the next two points and UALR took the 2-1 lead.
Mississippi State started the fourth set hot before another de Zoete service run gave UALR the lead for good in the match. Down 4-3, Hodzic recorded three kills and an MSU attack error put UALR up three. A Williams' kill pushed the advantage to 8-4. Up 9-6, Williams recorded a pair of kills and the Trojans led by five.
A mini service run by Begic all but ended the match. Serving up 19-13, Milanovic got a kill followed by a pair of Begic aces put UALR up 22-13. Up 24-17, Milanovic put the exclamation point on the match with a kill that flew off the hands of MSU's libero as UALR completed the four-set win.
UALR returns to action next Friday (Sept. 6) at the Rice Invitational. The Trojans battle LSU at 4 p.m.
