Box Score LITTLE ROCK – UALR seized its first conference win of the year with a dominant sweep over ULM (25-22, 25-18, 25-6) at the Jack Stephens Center on Wednesday night.
The highlight of the match for the Trojans (7-4, 1-0 Sun Belt Conference) was their near-historic third set, the second-best set win in program history.
UALR started the set by going up 5-0, all on ULM errors. After ULM's third point of the set, UALR scored five straight points to improve its lead to 16-3. At this point, the set and match were all-but decided as the Trojans continued on a 9-3 run to clinch the match.
The set came three years to the day after the Trojans' biggest-ever margin of victory in a set. On Sept. 17, 2011, UALR got a 25-3 third- set win in a sweep of Texas Southern.
Senior Edina Begic led the Trojans on Wednesday with a double-double performance of 15 kills and 10 digs. Her double-double marks her third of the season. She now has 140 kills on the year.
Junior Sonja Milanovic recorded her 100th kill of the season in the second set and would end the match with six kills and 12 digs.
Redshirt sophomore Carolee Dillard would add another four blocks in the contest to extend her season total to 55. Along with Dillard, senior Adisa Hodzic also contributed four blocks. The two would combine to block eight of the Trojans' 10 total blocks.
Senior Capri Rino led the UALR in digs by scooping up 14 of the team's 49.
Sophomore setter Megan Mathis helped the Trojans' offense by adding 30 assists, marking the fifth time this season she has had at least 30 in a match.
The second set of the night was back and forth until the teams were tied at 13-13. UALR would slowly extend its lead from there and pull away due in large part to six ULM errors. The Trojans ended the set by scoring five straight points to seal the second frame.
The first set was as close as ULM would get to claiming a set from UALR as the Warhawks went up 8-5. That would prove to be their largest lead of the match. With the Warhawks up later in the set at 20-18, UALR would go on tear by scoring six straight points, giving the Trojans a 24-20 advantage. After a timeout by ULM, the Warhawks scored two more points before finally being put away by Begic's eighth kill of the set.
UALR returns to action at home on Friday (Sept. 19) at 7 p.m. to face Louisiana (10-1) in each team's second conference match of the season. Louisiana enters the contest after its first loss of the season to visiting conference opponent South Alabama in five sets on Wednesday night.
