Trojans Look For Sun Belt Tournament Win Over UTA

Match Notes (PDF)

Match 27: Little Rock vs. UT Arlington
Friday, Nov. 20 • 4 p.m. (CST)
Statesboro, Ga. • Hanner Fieldhouse
Live Stats | Live Video (ESPN3)

LITTLE ROCK – With the Sun Belt Conference Volleyball Championship set to begin this weekend, No. 5 seed Little Rock will face No. 4 seed UT Arlington in the opening round on Friday at 4 p.m. (CST) in Statesboro, Ga. All tournament matches will be aired on ESPN3.
 
FIRST SERVE

• Little Rock enters the tournament as the defending champions after sweeping South Alabama, UT Arlington and Texas State last season to earn its fifth tournament title.
• This will be the third meeting of the season between Little Rock and UT Arlington with each winning one match apiece.
• Little Rock sports a 13-9 record in the opening match of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
• The Trojans are 27-18 in Sun Belt Tournament matches.
• The Trojans hold a 1-0 lead over the Mavericks in the tournament.
• The overall series is tied 10-10.
• Little Rock is tied with rival Arkansas State for the most tournament titles with five.
• Carolee Dillard and Priscila Almeida are the reigning Sun Belt Offensive and Defensive Student-Athletes of the Week.
• Carolee Dillard has averaged 1.67 blocks per set against UTA this season while Priscila Almeida has averaged 6.22 digs per set.
• Priscila Almeida has the 17th-most digs per set in Division I at 5.22.
• The Trojans are 13-3 when winning the first set this season.
• When recording more aces than its opponents, Little Rock is 9-2.

 
FOLLOW THE TROJANS
Fans can monitor all the action by following @LittleRockVB on Twitter.
 
SCOUTING UT ARLIGNTON (19-9, 10-6 SUN BELT)
UTA enters the weekend with three straight sweeps over Louisiana, ULM and South Alabama.
 
The Mavericks' offense has the third-best overall hitting percentage in the conference this season at .215 and has the fourth-most kills per set at 12.57. Zhanelle Geathers has the second-highest hitting percentage in the Sun Belt at .355 while Qiana Canete ranks fifth for kills per set with 3.21. Cassidy Wheeler ranks third for assists per set with 9.59.
 
Defensively, UTA has the second-most blocks per set behind Little Rock with 2.40. The Mavericks rank ninth in the conference with 14.72 digs per set. UTA has a duo of freshmen in the top seven for blocks per set in the conference with Marisah Ingram (1.10) and Geathers (1.01). Caitlyn Cooney has the ninth-most digs per set with 4.00.
 
SERIES AGAINST UT ARLIGNTON
Little Rock and UT Arlington are tied 10-10 for the overall series, but the Trojans hold a 1-0 lead when playing in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Last season, Little Rock swept UTA in straight sets (25-6, 25-17, 25-18) to advance to the championship match. The Trojans 25-6 first set win tied for the most lopsided set in Sun Belt Conference Tournament history.
 
This season Little Rock and UT Arlington split the regular-season series with Little Rock earning the five-set win at home on Sept. 27 and UTA earning a four-set win on Oct. 3. Combined, the Trojans hold the advantage with hitting (.173-.151), service aces (12-10) and blocks (24-19) over the Mavericks. UTA also has substantially more attack errors than the Trojans with a 67-42 margin.
 
Individually, Priscila Almeida has recorded 6.22 digs per set against the Mavericks this season while Carolee has owned the net with 1.67 blocks per set. Edina Selimovic has 3.00 kills per set, five aces and is hitting .311 against UTA.
 
SUN BELT TOURNAMENT SUCCESS
The Trojans are 13-9 in the opening match of the Sun Belt Tournament and are 27-18 overall at the tournament. Little Rock is tied with Arkansas State for the most tournament titles with five.
 
STUDENT-ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Little Rock volleyball's Carolee Dillard and Priscila Almeida were tagged as the Sun Belt Conference's Offensive and Defensive Student-Athletes of the Week on Monday.
 
Dillard earned the offensive award for the first time a career-high 19 kills (4.75 per set) and a spectacular .607 hitting percentage on 28 attempts against Appalachian State. Her 19 kills were the second-most by a Little Rock player this year and were the most in a four-set match.
 
Dillard became just the third player in program history with an offensive and defensive weekly award. Teammate Edina Selimovic accomplished the same feat earlier this season.
 
Almeida earned her second defensive award of the season as she tallied a match-high 27 digs (6.75 per set) against a heavy swinging Appalachian State offense in Friday night's four-set win.
 
The last time two Trojan players garnered Student-Athlete of the Week awards in the same week was last year when Edina Begic and Megan Mathis won offensive player and setter of the week awards.
 
THE TROJAN WALL IS UP!
For the second straight year, Dillard and Selimovic are the best blocking duo in the Sun Belt Conference. Dillard leads the conference with 115 total blocks at a rate of 1.20 per set. Selimovic second for total blocks with 111 while her 1.16 per set rank third. In conference play, Selimovic has the most blocks with 79 while Dillard is right behind her with 78.
 
As a team, the Trojans rank 32nd in Division I with 2.58 blocks per set. Last season, the Trojans ranked third in the nation for total blocks with 372 and had the fifth most blocks per set at 3.05. Selimovic and Dillard were responsible for 323 of Little Rock's 372 total blocks.
 
Little Rock is 10-6 this season when recording more blocks than its opponents.
 
DIGGIN' ALMEIDA
Priscila Almeida has made a huge impact on the Trojans' defensive game in her one and only season in a Little Rock uniform. Almeida ranks 17th in the nation for digs per set with 5.22 and ranks 62nd for total digs with 501. Her dig total ranks fourth in program history for most digs in a single season.
 
ACE YOUR FACE
Little Rock's 1.30 aces per set rank third in the conference this season. Sydnee Martin leads the Trojans with 30 (0.31 per set) and ranks seventh in the conference. Edina Selimovic is one ace behind Martin with 29 and averages 0.30 per set, 10th overall.
 
In conference play, Little Rock ranks first with 84 aces and second for aces per set with 1.38. Selimovic leads the league with 23 aces and 0.38 per set. Martin places fourth with 0.36 per set and ranks second with 22 total.
 
This season, the Trojans are 9-2 when recording more aces than their opponents.
 
FIRST SET PRECEDENT
Little Rock is 13-3 when winning the first set this season. When winning the first two sets, the Torjans are 9-1.
 
FRIDAY SUCCESS
In Friday matches this season, Little Rock is 7-3 and is currently on a three-match winning streak in those matches.
 
A WIN OVER UT ARLINGTON WOULD BE…
…Little Rock's fourth straight Sun Belt Conference Tournament win.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH

• With 501 digs, Priscila Almeida is five digs away from having the second-most in a single season in program history.
• Marina Avram's next block will be her 40th.
• Kelsey Leech is two aces away from 25.
• Veronica Marin is six kills away from 100.
• With 285 career blocks, Edina Selimovic is eight blocks away from ninth all-time and 10 away from eighth.

 
NEXT UP
With a Trojan win over the Mavericks on Friday, Little Rock would face the winner of No. 1 seed Arkansas State and No. 8 seed Georgia Southern on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. (CST).