Trojans Look to Give Red Wolves First Sun Belt Loss

Match Notes (PDF)

Match 22: Arkansas State vs. Little Rock
Wednesday, Oct. 28 • 6 p.m.
Jonesboro, Ark. • ASU Convocation Center
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LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock volleyball (10-11, 6-5 Sun Belt) will look to give Arkansas State (20-1, 11-0) its first conference loss and even up the season series on Wednesday in Jonesboro.
 
FIRST SERVE

• Little Rock has won the last three matches in Jonesboro against Arkansas State.
• The Trojans continue to outblock the entire Sun Belt.
• In Sun Belt play, Little Rock is the only team to have three blockers ranked in the top seven.
• Edina Selimovic is tied for the most aces in conference play at 0.49 per set.
• Carolee Dillard became the fourth Trojan in program history with 400 career blocks last Friday against Louisiana.
• Little Rock ranks 31st in the nation for blocks per set and leads the conference.
• Priscila Almeida ranks 18th in the country for digs per set at 5.13.
• Little Rock has the second-lowest opponent hitting percentage in the conference and ranks 35th in the nation.

 
SCOUTING ARKANSAS STATE (20-1, 11-0 SUN BELT)
The Trojans gave the Red Wolves a fit in the first match of the season series in Little Rock, but Arkansas State survived the ordeal with a five-set win. Since then, the Red Wolves have swept all but one match. Texas State gave Arkansas State a scare as the match went to five sets, but the Red Wolves again came through.
 
Arkansas State is the most efficient hitting team in conference play at .301. Freshman Carlisa May leads the Red Wolves' offense with 3.59 kills per set and a .319 hitting percentage. When it's not May hitting, Drew Jones and Darby Graff pick up the slack as they average 3.23 and 3.12 kills per set, respectively. Setter Mallory Warrington gets nearly all the assists as she averages 11.41 for the year.
 
On defense, the Red Wolves are the third-best blocking team in the Sun Belt at 2.33 per set. Kelsey Reis is A-State's top blocker at 1.17 per set. When it comes to digs, Arkansas State ranks second overall with 15.87 per set, but drops to seventh in Sun Belt play with 15.32 per set. In conference play, Markie Schaedig ranks sixth for digs per set with 4.56.
 
SERIES AGAINST ARKANSAS STATE
Little Rock will look to extend its winning streak in Jonesboro on Wednesday night as the Trojans have won three consecutive matches on the Red Wolves' floor.
Last season, the Trojans picked up their 20th conference win of the year in straight sets against the Red Wolves to close out Sun Belt play and earn the best undefeated record in conference history at 20-0. Coach Van Compton also became the Sun Belt's all-time winningest coach as she picked up her 216th conference win.
 
A WIN AGAINST ARKANSAS STATE WOULD…
…be the Red Wolves' first conference loss of the season. It would also be the Trojans' fourth straight win in Jonesboro and would be the eighth overall win at A-State since Little Rock jumped to Division I in 1991. A win would also snap the Red Wolves' 16-match winning streak.
A win would also guarantee Little Rock a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the fifth straight year.
 
THE TROJAN WALL IS UP!
Little Rock continues to be the most dominate blocking team in the Sun Belt. For the season, the Trojans have tallied 2.60 blocks per set with a total of 203. In Sun Belt play, Little Rock's numbers are even more impressive with 2.91 blocks per set, almost a half-block more than Arkansas State's 2.42 per set.
 
In conference play, Little Rock has three players in the top seven for blocks per set. Carolee Dillard leads the conference with 1.35 blocks per set while Edina Selimovic is right behind her with 1.33 per set. Freshman Veronica Marin cracked the top 10 for the first time this season and is currently in a three-way tie for seventh at 1.00 block per set. The Trojans are the only team in the Sun Belt with three players in the top 10 in that category.
 
Nationally, the Trojans 2.60 blocks per set rank 31st in the nation.
 
ACE YOUR FACE
In conference play, Edina Selimovic has been serving up the aces and is tied for the most per set at 0.49. Freshman Sydnee Martin is the other Trojan in the top 10 as she comes in with the sixth-most at 0.33 per set.
 
As a team, Little Rock has the second-most total aces in Sun Belt play with 57 while it comes in with the third-most per set at 1.33. For the entire season, the Trojans rank fourth with 1.26 aces per set.
 
DILLARD MAKES HISTORY
With her fifth block of the night against Louisiana last Friday, Carolee Dillard became the fourth Little Rock player in program history with 400 blocks for her career. Dillard is just the second player for Little Rock in the rally-scoring era (2001-present) to record 400 total blocks.
 
Dillard ended the weekend with 404 total blocks, ranking 20th among active Division I players. At 1.26 blocks per set for her career, Dillard ranks 10th among active Division I players and is the fifth-highest junior on the list.
 
DIGGIN' ALMEIDA
Senior libero Priscila Almeida continues her great defensive ways as she has racked up the third-most digs per set in the conference with 5.13, ranking 18th in the nation.
 
Almeida recorded her 400th dig of the season on Sunday against ULM. Her total currently ranks as the ninth-most in a single season in program history. With 12 digs against Arkansas State on Wednesday night, she'll pass Sonja Milanovic's total of 411 from last year to move into eighth. If she records 22 digs, she will move into seventh, passing Amila Barokovic's total of 421 in 2006.
 
At 5.13 digs per set for her career, Almeida has the most digs per set among any Trojan in the rally-scoring era and is the only Trojan with at least five digs per set.
 
HITTING THE MARK
With a .351 hitting percentage for the year, Edina Selimovic has the third-best hitting percentage in the Sun Belt Conference. In that time, Selimovic has recorded the fifth-most kills per set in the conference at 3.23 per set.
 
In Sun Belt matches, Selimovic has the fifth-best hitting percentage at .341 and the sixth-most kills per set at 3.27.
 
With a .338 career-hitting percentage, Selimovic is currently the most efficient hitter in program history and is on pace to stay that way. Last year, Selimovic recorded the fifth-highest hitting percentage in program history at .321 as she recorded 202 kills on 442 attempts.
 
DEFENSIVE STRENGTH
Little Rock's top-notch defense is evident once again this season as the Trojans have the second-lowest opponent hitting percentage in the Sun Belt at .163. The Trojans have held opponents to the second-most errors this season among conference schools with 540 in the second-fewest sets played with 78.
 
In conference play, the story is much the same as Little Rock has held opponents to a .141 average. The Trojans' opponents have committed the most errors against Little Rock than any other team in conference play with 309.
 
Last season, Little Rock had the second-lowest opponent hitting percentage in the nation at .137 while opponents made 782 errors.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH

• Marina Avram is four kills shy of 200 for her career.
• Carolee Dillard is one dig shy of 100 for her career.
• Freshman Taylor Lindberg needs 23 assists to post 200 for the season.

 
NEXT UP
After Wednesday night, Little Rock will return home to face Georgia Southern in their second meeting of the season on Saturday night at 6:30 p.m.