Little Rock Begins Sun Belt Play at Georgia Southern

Match Notes (PDF)

Match 11: Little Rock at Georgia Southern
Friday, Sept. 18 • 5:30 p.m. (CDT)
Statesboro, Ga. • Hanner Fieldhouse
Live Stats | Live Video ($)

LITTLE ROCK – With non-conference play in the books, Little Rock volleyball (4-6) begins its Sun Belt Conference slate by traveling to Statesboro, Ga., to face the Georgia Southern Eagles (5-6) on Friday night at 5:30 p.m (CDT).
 
FIRST SERVE

• The Trojans split their four matches at the Memphis Invitational last weekend.
• Carolee Dillard and Megan Mathis earned Memphis Invitational All-Tournament Team honors.
• Little Rock leads the all-time series with Georgia Southern 2-0.
• Priscila Almeida's 38 digs against Memphis tied the program rally-scoring record and are the third-most in the nation this season.
• The Trojans enter Friday's match with the nation's second-longest winning streak against conference opponents at 23 matches.
• Little Rock owns the statistical advantage over Georgia Southern in hitting percentage, kills per set, blocks per set, and digs per set.
• Edina Selimovic has the fourth-highest hitting percentage in the Sun Belt, while Megan Mathis comes in at No. 9.
• Selimovic has hit .290 or better in her last six matches.
• Mathis has recorded 30-plus assists in seven of Little Rock's 10 matches.

SCOUTING GEORGIA SOUTHERN (5-6 OVERALL, 0-0 SUN BELT)
The Eagles come into the first Sun Belt match of the year with back-to-back wins against Chicago State and Savannah State. Prior to that, Georgia Southern lost three consecutive matches to Winthrop, Tennessee State and Georgia Tech.
 
Georgia Southern is led on offense by Stephanie Spence (3.05 kills per set) and Megan Chevalier (2.81 kills per set). Chevalier leads the Eagles with a .311 hitting percentage compared to Spencer's .147. Georgia Southern runs the 6-2 offense with setters Kat Minnerly and Katie Bange. Minnerly has 231 assists for the year (6.08 per set), while Bange comes in with 174 (4.46 per set).
 
On defense, Alex Beecher has hauled in the vast majority of digs with 214 (5.22 per set), and Lauren Reichard leads the Eagles with 44 total blocks (1.13 per set).

SERIES AGAINST GEORGIA SOUTHERN
Little Rock has won the only two matches against Georgia Southern since the Eagles joined the conference last season. The Trojans won in four sets last season in Statesboro (21-25, 25-19, 28-26, 25-21) before winning in five in Little Rock (17-25, 25-21, 25-23, 23-25, 15-11); that was Little Rock's only five-set match of the regular season.
 
MEMPHIS INVITATIONAL REVIEW
Little Rock split its four matches at the Memphis Invitational last weekend with sweeps coming against Tennessee Tech and UAPB. The Trojans fell in four sets to Auburn before falling to Memphis to five sets after a 2-0 lead.
Juniors Megan Mathis and Carolee Dillard were named to the All-Tournament Team. Mathis finished the tournament with 142 assists, while Dillard recorded 33 kills, 17 total blocks and hit. 361.
 
DIGGIN' ALMEIDA
Senior libero Priscila Almeida is already making her mark on the Little Rock volleyball program just a few weeks into the 2015 season. On Saturday against Memphis, Almeida tied a Trojan rally-scoring record with 38 digs. Almeida total also tied for the second-most digs in a match in program history.
 
Almeida's 38 digs against Memphis were the most in the Sun Belt this season and were the second-most in Division I so far.
 
For the year, Almeida is averaging 5.00 digs per set, third-most in the Sun Belt and 36th in the nation. Her 175 digs for the season rank 50th in the country.
 
CONFERENCE WINNING STREAK
Entering Friday night's match, Little Rock comes in with the nation's second-longest winning streak against conference opponents at 23 matches. The Trojans achieved a perfect 20-0 record in conference play last season, which ended up as the best undefeated record in conference history. Little Rock capped that off with three wins in sweeps against South Alabama, UT Arlington and Texas State at the Sun Belt Tournament.
 
TROJAN ADVANTAGE
Statistically, Little Rock holds the upper hand against Georgia Southern. The Trojans are hitting more efficiently than the Eagles, holding a .235-.189 advantage. Georgia Southern has made significantly more attack errors than Little Rock, 230 compared to the Trojans' 150. Both squads average the same kills per set at 12.3, but Little Rock's more effective hitting give it the advantage.
 
Little Rock also holds the blocking edge with 2.23 per set compared to Georgia Southern's 2.00.
 
SUN BELT RANKINGS
Little Rock's Edina Selimovic has been responsible for a large part of the Trojans' offense so far this season. Through 10 matches, Selimovic ranks fifth in the conference with a .364 hitting percentage and seventh with 3.26 kills per set. She has also hit .290 or better in last six matches.
 
Setter Megan Mathis comes in with the ninth-best hitting percentage in the conference at .303. Mathis currently places fifth in assists per set at 9.43. Mathis has recorded 30-plus assists in seven of Little Rock's 10 matches this season.
 
Middle blocker Carolee Dillard is once again one of the top blockers in the Sun Belt as she averages 1.06 blocks per set, enough for fifth place.
 
As a team, Little Rock's .235 hitting percentage ranks fourth in the conference, while its 2.23 blocks per set ties Arkansas State for third.
 
CAREER NUMBERS WATCH

• Sophomore Marina Avram is two kills away from 100 for her career.
• Almeida is 25 digs shy of 200 for her career and season.
• Selimovic currently has the best-career attack percentage in program history at .336.
• At 206 total blocks, Selimovic can pass Little Rock graduate assistant coach Anita Bucur for ninth-most in the rally-scoring era with eight on Friday.

 
UP NEXT
With business concluding in Statesboro on Friday, Little Rock will have a week to prepare for its first two home matches of the season as Troy and UT Arlington visit the Jack Stephens Center on Sept. 25 and 27.