Trojans Close Regular Season at Home on Friday

Match Notes (PDF)

Match 26: Little Rock vs. Appalachian State
Friday, Nov. 13 • 6:30 p.m.
Little Rock, Ark. • Jack Stephens Center
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LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock volleyball (12-13, 8-7 Sun Belt) will play its final regular-season match at the Jack Stephens Center when Appalachian State (20-5, 13-1) visits on Friday at 6:30 p.m. The Trojans will honor seniors Megan Mathis, Edina Selimovic, Katarina Bursac and Priscila Almeida prior to Friday night's match.
 
FIRST SERVE

• Little Rock is 3-1 against the Mountaineers and is 1-0 in Little Rock.
• Depending on the outcome of this weekend's matches, Little Rock can finish fourth through sixth in the Sun Belt standings.
• A win against App State would be the fourth straight season Little Rock has recorded at least nine conference wins.
• The Trojans continue their dominance at the net with a conference-leading 2.55 blocks per set.
• Carolee Dillard is five blocks away from recording the third-most in program history.
• Edina Selimovic can enter the top 10 for career blocks with five on Friday.
• Priscila Almeida can record the fourth-most digs in a single season at Little Rock with 16 against the Mountaineers.
• Megan Mathis could make her return to the Trojan lineup after being sidelined for over a month.

 
FOLLOW THE TROJANS
Fans can monitor all the action by following @LittleRockVB on Twitter.
 
SCOUTING APPALACHIAN STATE
Appalachian State enters the week after taking its first conference loss to Sun Belt leader Arkansas State on Sunday. Before the Trojans face the Mountaineers on Friday, Appalachian State will try to give Arkansas State its first conference loss in Jonesboro on Thursday.
 
The Mountaineers bring a lot of firepower offensively with Jess Keller, Emily Corrigan and Ashton Gregory. Keller leads the Sun Belt with 4.55 kills per set this season and is hitting .267. Corrigan ranks second in the Sun Belt with 3.68 kills per set while Gregory ranks seventh with 3.17. Paige Brown does a great job of feeding the App State hitters with a league-leading 11.90 assists per set. The Mountaineers lead the Sun Belt with a .277 hitting percentage, 13.64 assists per set and 14.59 kills per set.
 
Defensviely, Appalachian State leads the Sun Belt with 16.63 digs per set, but rank eighth in blocks at 1.79 per set. Meghan Mahoney ranks sixth in the Sun Belt with 4.75 per set. Gregory is App State's best blocker statistically with 0.85 blocks per set.
 
SERIES AGAINST APPALACHIAN STATE
Little Rock leads the overall series with Appalachian State by a 3-1 margin and has yet to lose to the Mountaineers in Little Rock.
 
Last month, the Mountaineers took the first match of the series in four sets despite the Trojans owning the hitting percentage battle .261 to .193. Appalachian State made 31 attack errors compared to the Trojans' second-lowest total of the season with nine. Edina Selimovic led the Trojans with a team-high 13 kills and a match-high five blocks. Miona Milovanovic and Marina Avram also had double-digit kill totals with 12 and 11, respectively. Priscila Almeida recorded the most digs in a four-set match in the rally-scoring era at Little Rock with 34 and went on to earn Sun Belt Defensive Student-Athlete of the Week honors.
 
Last year at the Jack Stephens Center, Little Rock beat App State in straight sets (25-16, 25-12, 25-14). Edina Selimovic recorded six kills and led the match with six blocks while Megan Mathis tallied 34 assists. The Trojans hit .346 for the match behind former Trojan Edina Begic's 14 kills. The Mountaineers hit a mere .010 for the match with Keller hitting .000 and Corrigan hitting -.023 on a match-high 43 attempts.
 
TOURNAMENT SCENARIOS
Little Rock can take the four-seed in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, but only if it wins against Appalachian State and South Alabama wins its final two matches against Texas State and UT Arlington this weekend.
 
If South Alabama wins out and Little Rock falls to Appalachian State, Little Rock would fall to the six-seed in the tournament.
 
With any other scenario, Little Rock would take the five-seed and face UT Arlington in the first round of the conference tournament.
 
A WIN AGAINST APPALACHIAN STATE WOULD…
…be the fourth straight season in which Little Rock has recorded at least nine conference wins. A win would also allow the Trojans to end the regular season with a .500 record at 13-13 overall. It would also be the fourth consecutive season in which Little Rock has recorded at least 13 overall wins.
 
THE TROJAN WALL IS UP!
With 2.55 blocks per set this season, Little Rock has the most blocks per set in the conference and rank 35th nationally. The Trojans are even better in conference play, recording a league-leading 2.75 blocks per set and 144 total blocks. Both totals lead the conference by a wide margin as UT Arlington has the second-most blocks per set at 2.36 and 139.5 total blocks.
 
DILLARD'S BIG BLOCKS
Junior middle blocker Carolee Dillard is just 5 blocks shy of recording the third-most blocks in program history. Dillard would pass Michelle Wilson ('91-'94) with 425 total blocks.
 
Dillard's 420 total blocks are the 20th-most among active NCAA Division I players and are the fourth-most by a junior. Her 1.25 blocks per set for her career rank 12th among active players.
 
Dillard's 111 blocks and 1.21 blocks per set are the most in the Sun Belt this season. Her 74 blocks in conference play are also the most in the Sun Belt.
 
SELIMOVIC BLOCK!
With five blocks this against App State, Edina Selimovic will enter the top 10 for most career blocks at Little Rock. Selimovic currently has 276 for her career and needs 281 to pass Rhonda Rutherford's total of 280 from 1993 to 1994.
 
DIGGIN' ALMEIDA
Senior libero Priscila Almeida moved into fifth for the most digs in a single season at Little Rock with 474 as she recorded 27 this past weekend.
 
With 16 digs on Friday, Almeida would move into fourth for the most digs in a single season at Little Rock, passing Emily Pepperman's total of 489 in 2009. If Almeida has the same type of match she had in the first match of the season series with App State, she could be looking at passing Capri Rino's total of 505 from last season, moving her into second.
 
Almeida is recording 5.15 digs per set for the season, ranking third in the conference and 19th nationally.
 
THE RETRUN OF MATHIS
If all goes to plan, setter Megan Mathis could make her return to the court just in time for her final home match at the Jack Stephens Center. Mathis has been sidelined for the past month after suffering a concussion against Arkansas State on Oct. 7.
 
Since the injury, freshman Taylor Lindberg has filled the role of starting setter. In that time, Lindberg has averaged 7.80 assists per set and earned two double-doubles. Lindberg's first match as the starting setter took place against Appalachian State when the Trojans traveled to Boone, N.C., last month. Lindberg tallied 35 assists with five kills and four total blocks (one solo and three assisted).
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH

• Carolee Dillard is seven kills away from 500.
• Taylor Lindberg's next block will be her 25th.
• Veronica Marin needs two blocks for 75.
• Sydnee Martin is seven digs away from 200.
• Megan Mathis is 40 assists away from earning the ninth-most in program history.
• Miona Milovanovic is two blocks shy of 100.
• Edina Selimovic is two kills shy of 500.

 
NEXT UP
Little Rock will return to action at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in Statesboro, Ga., on the campus of Georgia Southern on Friday, Nov. 20. Opponent and match time will be determined based on this weekend's conference results.