Trojans Overcome Deficit to Defeat Georgia State

LITTLE ROCK – With a 2-1 deficit for the match, Little Rock volleyball rallied back with a 3-2 win (23-25, 25-15, 22-25, 25-17, 15-10) over Georgia State on Saturday night at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
Marina Avram picked up her 11th double-double of the season while Mya Robinson tallied her sixth double-double for the Trojans (9-16, 5-8 Sun Belt). Avram finished the match with 13 kills and 13 digs, and Robinson tallied 13 kills and 10 digs. Sydnee Martin had 26 digs with six assists and two aces. Daisha Gillard led the match with a .368 hitting percentage as she put down 12 kills and added three total blocks. Taylor Lindberg led the match with 40 assists while adding eight digs, five kills and two total blocks.
 
Morgan Hash led the Panthers (8-17, 2-10 Sun Belt) with 12 kills, and Celeste Friesen led the match with 32 digs.
 
Down 9-6 in the fifth set, Little Rock went on a roll with a 9-1 run to defeat Georgia State. Little Rock hit .240 in the final set while Georgia State hit -.034. Avram was clutch in the final frame as she put down four kills on seven attempts with no errors. Martin had seven of her 26 digs in the fifth set alone.
 
Down 2-1 for the match, Little Rock took control of the fourth set as it never gave up the lead. Robinson and Tamaira Armstrong each led the Trojans with three kills each while Lindberg added 10 assists. Little Rock had its best offensive set of the night with a .423 hitting percentage as it tallied 12 kills on 26 swings with one error.
 
Georgia State controlled the entirety of the third set as it built a 12-3 lead early on. The Trojans did fight back by bringing the deficit down to two, but their efforts weren't enough to overcome the Panthers' lead. Attack errors piled up for Little Rock and led the team to its only set of the night in which it hit negative (-.067).
 
The Trojans steamrolled the Panthers in the second set as they went on to earn an easy 10-point victory. Little Rock hit .361 and had twice as many kills as Georgia State (16-8). Avram led the set with four of her own.
 
Little Rock took a narrow two-point loss in the first frame in what ended up being the tightest set of the night. The set included eight tie scores and two lead changes. Tied at 23, back-to-back errors by Little Rock gave Georgia State the set. Robinson began the match with a set-high five kills.
 
Maritza Mesa finished the match with eight kills, a career-high 14 digs and two total blocks while Armstrong had four kills with a career-high .300 hitting percentage off the bench. Belissa Guidotti had three kills and one block assist, and Jovana Cernjanski had two digs and one assist. Nedima Kamberovic finished the match with two digs.
 
Little Rock ended the match with the advantage in kills (58-48), hitting (.196-.080), assists (50-41), digs (80-83) and total team blocks (9-3). Both sides tallied two aces for the match.
 
For Little Rock, it was just the second time this season in which it won a match after losing the first set. It was also just the second time this season in which the Trojans had overcome a 2-1 deficit. The win earned Little Rock its longest home winning streak since 2015 at three matches.
 
Little Rock will now carry its two-match winning streak to UT Arlington for a match on Friday at 6:30 p.m.