Little Rock Takes Four-Set Loss to Mississippi State

LITTLE ROCK – After taking the first set, Little Rock volleyball (1-5) dropped the final three frames and took a 3-1 loss (25-23, 20-25, 14-25, 12-25) to Mississippi State (5-1) on Friday night at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
Veronica Marin led the Trojans on offense with a career-high 16 kills while hitting a team-high .429. Taylor Lindberg came up with 39 assists and three block assists, and Kelsey Leech led Little Rock with 12 digs.
 
The Trojans and Bulldogs stayed within three points of each other for the entire first set. Knotted at 23, an attack error by Little Rock-native Evie Grace Singleton and a kill by Marin gave Little Rock the first set.
 
With the exception of being tied 1-1 early, Mississippi State led the entirety of the second set and went up by six at 22-16. The Trojans brought the lead down to three at 23-20, but the Bulldogs closed out the set with a Trojan service error and attack error.
 
Mississippi State completely dominated the third and fourth sets with 11- and 12-point margins of victory, respectively.
 
The Bulldogs' Singleton led the team with 27 kills, setting a new career-high, while hitting .535 for the match.
 
Marina Avram and Miona Milovanovic each tallied nine kills while Sydnee Martin had 10 digs and a team-high two aces.
 
Little Rock outblocked their opponent for the sixth consecutive match with a 6-4 margin of victory.
 
The Trojans will close out the Little Rock Invitational against UT Martin tomorrow afternoon at 5 p.m.