Trojans Face South Alabama, Troy on Final Road Trip

Match Notes (PDF)

Match 24: Little Rock at South Alabama
Friday, Nov. 6 • 4 p.m.
Mobile, Ala. • Jaguar Gymnasium
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Match 25: Little Rock at Troy
Sunday, Nov. 8 • 12 p.m.
Troy, Ala. • Trojan Arena
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LITTLE ROCK – With a guaranteed spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, Little Rock volleyball (11-12, 7-6 Sun Belt) will look to improve its position in the conference standings with its last regular-season road trip to South Alabama (11-12, 7-6) and Troy (13-16, 6-8) this weekend. The Trojans will face the Jaguars on Friday at 4 p.m., before going up against Troy on Sunday at noon.
 
FIRST SERVE

• Little Rock is currently in a three-way tie for fourth with South Alabama and UT Arlington.
• The Trojans will look to split the season series with South Alabama while sweeping the season series with Troy.
• Little Rock has only one loss when playing in Mobile.
• Little Rock has just one loss at Troy, coming in 2010.
• Priscila Almeida has recorded nine 20-plus dig matches this season and is 22 digs shy of recording the fifth-most in a single season at Little Rock.
• Taylor Lindberg enters the weekend with double-doubles in two consecutive matches.
• Carolee Dillard is 13 blocks shy of recording the third-most in program history.
• With nine blocks this weekend, Edina Selimovic will enter the top-10 for most blocks in program history.
• Little Rock continues to be the best blockers in the Sun Belt with 2.82 blocks per set in conference matches and 2.58 for the season, ranking 36th in the country
• Little Rock has the fourth-best hitting percentage in the conference at .209.
• In conference play, Little Rock has the third-most aces per set at 1.33.
• LR has the second-lowest opponent hitting percentage at .164, ranking 34th in the nation.

SCOUTING SOUTH ALABAMA (13-11, 7-6 SUN BELT)
South Alabama comes into Friday's match with a pair of road losses to Georgia State and Appalachian State. The Jaguars were swept by Georgia State on Friday night before they took a set from undefeated Appalachian State on Sunday.
 
The Jags are led on offense by Mechell Daniel with 3.62 kills per set and a .264 hitting percentage. Her numbers are even better in conference play with 3.88 kills per set and a .277 hitting percentage. Daniel tallied 21 kills against Little Rock in their first meeting of the season on. Emma Anderson leads the team with 8.12 assists per set in conference play while Parker Harrell comes in with 7.00 per set. Both tallied 20-plus assists against the Trojans back on Oct. 17.
 
Defensively, Nikki Gittens and Sarah Richardson are the leading blockers with 1.00 and 0.99 blocks per set for the year. In Sun Belt play, Gittens averages 1.08 per set while Richardson averages 0.90 per set. In their first meeting with Little Rock, Richardson had a match-high seven blocks while Gittens came in with five. When it comes to digs, five South Alabama players have more than two digs per set in conference play. Emily Hundt leads the category with 4.75 per set in conference play.
 
SCOUTING TROY (13-16, 6-8 SUN BELT)
Troy comes into Sunday's match with five straight losses. On Monday, Troy lost in four sets to Mississippi State at home after losing in five to UT Arlington and three to Texas State on the road this past weekend.
 
Blair Winston leads Troy's offense with 3.09 kills per set while hitting .187. In Sun Belt play, Winston is getting almost three kills per set and is hitting .175. Sara Landis leads the team with a .234 hitting percentage and has the second-most kills per set at 2.25. In the first meeting of the season, Troy only hit .029 with 29 errors compared to Little Rock's nine.
 
Darby Griff leads the Troy defense with 0.95 blocks per set for the season while Ali Dowdall gets the most digs with 4.74 per set. Overall, Troy ranks seventh for blocks and digs with 2.07 and 14.84, respectively. In Sun Belt play, Troy is 10th in blocks with 1.59 per set and seventh in digs with 15.33 per set. In their last meeting, Troy only posted three blocks compared to Little Rock's 13.
 
SERIES AGAINST SOUTH ALABAMA
The Jaguars took Little Rock to five sets in the first meeting of the season and came away with just their second win on Trojans' home floor. Little Rock has won 24 of the last 26 matches since 1996 and leads the overall series 28-5.
 
The Trojans are 14-1 when playing in Mobile with the only loss taking place in five sets in 2010. Since then, Little Rock has won in four sets on both trips to South Alabama in 2013 and 2014.
 
SERIES AGAINST TROY
Little Rock took the first match of the series in straight set in the home opener at the Jack Stephens Center. Little Rock's win improved its overall record against Troy to 11-2 and improved Little Rock's record at home against Troy to 6-1.
 
Little Rock is 5-1 when play at Troy with the only loss occurring in 2010 as Troy won in straight sets.
 
Of the last four matches against Troy, Little Rock has swept Troy in three of them.
 
SUN BELT TOURNAMENT CLINCHED
Little Rock's four-set win over Georgia Southern on Saturday night clinched a berth in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament for the fifth consecutive year. Since joining the Sun Belt and Division I in 1991, the Trojans have only failed to make the postseason tournament twice.
 
Entering the week, Little Rock, South Alabama and UT Arlington are in a three-way tie for fourth place in the conference with a 7-6 record. The three squads are potentially playing for the fourth, fifth and sixth place spots in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. Texas State can clinch the three-seed with a win against ULM on Thursday.
 
TOURNAMENT SEEDING SCENARIOS
Little Rock can clinch the four-seed by winning out and having UT Arlington taking a loss.
 
If Little and UT Arlington both win out, UT Arlington would claim the four-seed by tie-breaker while Little Rock would take the five-seed. This would set up Little Rock and UT Arlington in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Tournament.
 
If Little Rock can beat Troy on Sunday, it would guarantee a finish of no worse than sixth regardless of any other outcome.
 
The three teams could potentially finish their final three games with a 9-7 record, with tiebreakers determined on who the losses were against.
 
DIGGIN' ALMEIDA
Senior libero Priscila Almeida earned her 447th dig of the season on Saturday against Georgia Southern, tying for the sixth-most digs in a single season at Little Rock. Almeida recorded 21 digs for the match, her ninth 20-plus dig performance of the year.
 
With 22 digs this weekend, Almeida move into fifth for the most digs in a single season at Little Rock.
 
Almeida is recording 5.20 digs per set for the season, ranking third in the conference and 18th nationally. Her 272 digs in Sun Belt play are the most in the conference while her average of 5.33 ranks second.
 
SETTING FOR SUCCESS
Freshman Taylor Lindberg recorded her first-career double-doubles in back-to-back fashion against Arkansas State and Georgia Southern. Lindberg tallied 41 assists and 16 digs against the league-leading Red Wolves on Wednesday night while also adding two service aces, a block and a kill. Lindberg kept the momentum going with 40 assists, 11 digs, three blocks and two aces on Saturday night at home against Georgia Southern. Lindberg managed to earn 10.12 assists per set for the week along with 3.38 digs per set.
 
DILLARD'S BIG BLOCKS
Junior middle blocker Carolee Dillard is just 13 blocks shy of recording the third-most blocks in program history. Dillard would tie Michelle Wilson's 424 total blocks, a total that was recorded from 1991 to 1994.
 
Dillard's 411 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 102 blocks and 1.19 blocks per set are the most in the Sun Belt this season. Her 65 blocks in conference play are the second-most behind teammate Edina Selimovic's 66.
 
SELIMOVIC BLOCK!
With nine blocks this weekend, Edina Selimovic will enter the top 10 for most career blocks at Little Rock. Selimovic currently has 272 for her career and needs 281 to pass Rhonda Rutherford's total of 280 from 1993 to 1994.
 
THE TROJAN WALL IS UP!
With 2.58 blocks per set this season, Little Rock has the most blocks per set in the conference and rank 36th nationally. The Trojans are even better in conference play, recording a league-leading 2.82 blocks per set and 144 total blocks. Both totals lead the conference by a wide margin as Arkansas State has the second-most blocks per set at 2.38 and UT Arlington has the second-most total blocks at 123.5.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH

• Marina Avram is one dig away from 200 and three blocks away from 40.
• Carolee Dillard and Edia Selimovic are both 22 kills shy of 500.
• Freshman Taylor Lindberg can record her 300th assist with 42 this weekend.
• Freshman Veronica Marin's next block will be her 70th.
• Freshman Syndee Martin's next ace will be her 25th.
• Miona Milovanovic is six blocks shy of 100 for her career.

 
NEXT UP
Following this weekend's matches in Alabama, Little Rock will return home for its final home match of the season at the Jack Stephens Center on Friday, Nov. 13 against Appalachian State. The Trojans will honor seniors Priscila Almeida and Katarina Bursac in addition to juniors Edina Selimovic and Megan Mathis, who are seniors academically and will graduate this coming year.