Trojans Take Down Second-Place Mountaineers

LITTLE ROCK – In front of a record crowd of 923, Little Rock volleyball (13-13, 9-7 Sun Belt) took down second-place Appalachian State (20-7, 13-3) in four sets (25-21, 27-29, 26-24, 25-21) in the final regular-season match on Friday night at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
Carolee Dillard led the Trojans with a career-high 19 kills and hit a spectacular .607 on 28 attempts. Priscila Almeida's 27 digs were the fourth-most in a four-set match in the rally-scoring era. Edina Selimovic led the match with nine total blocks (two solo and seven assisted) while Sydnee Martin tied a career-high with four aces. Megan Mathis made her return to the court for the first time since Oct. 7 and tallied 41 assists.
 
Little Rock and Appalachian State were neck and neck in the first frame as both remained knotted up at 12-12. The Mountaineers then got on a roll to take a four-point lead at 18-14. After a Little Rock timeout, the Trojans came storming back to take the lead at 20-19 and a kill by Marina Avram. Once Little Rock grabbed the lead, it didn't let up as it took the set 25-21 after a Dillard kill.
 
Tied 9-9 in the second set, Appalachian State went on a run to take a 17-11 lead over Little Rock. The Trojans eventually got back into it with an 11-5 run to knot the set at 22-22. Still tied 23-23, Veronica Marin laid down a kill to give Little Rock set point. App State's Ashton Gregory even the set at 24-24 with a kill of her own. Both squads continued to exchange points until tying at 27-27. The Mountaineers then took the set with a kill by Courtney Sullivan and an ace by Jess Keller to give App State the 29-27 win.
 
The third set proved to be another close one. After App State jumped out to an early 9-4 lead, Little Rock came back to tie the frame at 14-14. The Trojans grabbed their first lead of the set with an ace from Martin at 16-15. With Little Rock up 19-17, Appalachian State earned two kills to tie the set. The Trojans and Mountaineers exchanged punches for the remainder of the frame and went into extra points tied 24-24. The knot wouldn't last long as a kill by Selimovic and another ace by Martin gave Little Rock a 26-24 win.
 
The final set was all Little Rock as it led from the wire. The Trojans began the frame with a 5-0 lead before the Mountaineers called their first timeout. App State rebounded and decreased the deficit to two points at 9-7. From that point, Little Rock took over as it built a 10-point lead at 23-13 after a block by Selimovic and Miona Milovanovic. The Trojans gained match point with a Mountaineer service error, but Appalachian State wasn't about to go down easy. The Mountaineers rattled off seven straight points to close the Trojan lead to 24-21. Although it was a great comeback, an App State attack error ended the match and gave Little Rock a 25-21 win.
 
Marin finished the match with a career-high 11 kills and had three total blocks. Avram ended up with eight kills, six digs and one block. Selimovic tallied seven kills in addition to her nine blocks. Milovanovic racked up five kills and two block assists while Mathis earned four kills and two blocks.
 
In addition to her four aces, Martin also scooped up 12 digs, and Kelsey Leech tallied eight digs in addition to an ace of her own.
 
Little Rock owned the blocks department as it tallied 13 compared to Appalachian State's four.
 
Little Rock will return to action next Friday at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament on the campus of Georgia Southern in Statesboro, Ga. The Trojans' opponent and match time will be announced on Sunday.