Trojans Fall to Bobcats in Three Sets

LITTLE ROCK – Little Rock volleyball began the weekend with a 3-0 loss (23-25, 18-25, 24-26) to Texas State on Friday night at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
Mya Robinson led the Trojans (5-12, 1-4 Sun Belt) with nine kills while also tallying nine digs. Taylor Lindberg racked up 32 assists with four kills. Maritza Mesa led the match with three aces while scooping up five digs. Sydnee Martin led the team with 11 digs.
 
The Bobcats (12-7, 4-1 Sun Belt) had three players with double-digit kill totals. Megan Porter, Jaliyah Bolden and Amy Pflughaupt tallied 13, 12 and 11 kills, respectively. Setter Erin Hoppe led the match with 47 assists while libero Micah Dinwiddie had a match-high 15 digs.
 
Up 20-15 in the first set, Little Rock allowed Texas State to go on a 10-3 run to win the set. Robinson, Veronica Marin and Daisha Gillard each put down three kills while Lindberg had 10 assists.
 
The second frame was the most lopsided of the night as the Bobcats went on to win the set by seven points. Despite the seven-point loss, the set included 10 tie scores and five lead changes — the most of the night. Texas State hit .394 for the set compared to Little Rock's .229. Marina Avram led the Trojans with three kills while Lindberg added another 11 assists. Martin led the set with six digs.
 
The Trojans didn't go down without a fight as the Bobcats had to go into extra points to win the set and match. Tied at 24, Texas State put down back-to-back kills to put the set away. Robinson and Avram each had four kills while Lindberg added another 11 assists. Mesa led the set with two aces.
 
Avram ended the match with eight kills and five digs, and Marin tallied seven kills, a team-high .278 hitting percentage, an ace and six digs. Gillard finished up with five kills while Tamaira Armstrong had three kills. Defensive specialist Jovana Cernjanski had a rare kill to go along with two digs off the bench.
 
Little Rock returns to action on Saturday as it hosts UT Arlington at 6:30 p.m., at the Jack Stephens Center. The match will be head coach Van Compton's 800th in Division I.