Trojans End Season with 3-2 Loss to Arkansas State

LITTLE ROCK – The 2017 season came to an end for Little Rock volleyball (9-19, 5-11 Sun Belt) as it took a five-set loss (28-26, 21-25, 18-25, 25-21, 7-15) to rival Arkansas State (19-10, 12-4 Sun Belt) at the Jack Stephens Center on Friday night.
 
Lone senior Marina Avram was honored before the match and ended her career at Little Rock by tallying her 13th double-double of the season with 14 kills and 12 digs while hitting .298. Maritza Mesa ended the season with her second double-double of the year as she posted 14 kills and 10 digs with three blocks. Taylor Lindberg had the Trojans' third double-double as she tallied 39 assists, 11 digs, five kills, four blocks and two aces. Veronica Marin hit a match-high .389 with eight kills, six digs and three blocks. Sydnee Martin led Little Rock with 20 digs and became the eighth Trojan in program history with 1,000 career digs. She ended the season with 507 digs — third-most in a single season at Little Rock. Daisha Gillard had a match-high five blocks.
 
Arkansas State's Carlisa May led the match with 22 kills while Ellie Watkins put up 59 assists with 16 digs. Tatum Ticknor posted a match-high 32 digs with eight assists and four aces.
 
After coming back to tie the match at 2-2 with a fourth-set win, Little Rock began the set with a 7-7 tie against Arkansas State. From there, it was all Arkansas State as it scored eight consecutive points to finish the match.
 
With a 2-1 deficit, the Trojans fought back to tie the match at 2-2 in the fourth set. With the Red Wolves up 21-18, the Trojans went on a seven-point run to win the set. Avram earned four kills with five digs during the set while Martin scooped up six digs.
 
Arkansas State's offense overpowered Little Rock in the third set as the Red Wolves put down 17 kills compared to the Trojans' nine. This helped A-State power its way to a seven-point win. Mesa led Little Rock with four kills while Martin had seven digs.
 
With an early led in the second set, Little Rock let Arkansas State go on a six-point run to take the lead. From that point, the Red Wolves maintained a three-point cushion over the Trojans for the rest of the set.
 
Down by six points at 18-12 in the opening set, Little Rock came storming back to win the frame. As Arkansas State earned set point at 24-21, Little Rock rattled off three consecutive points to tie the set. After the Red Wolves earned set point again at 26-25, the Trojans earned three consecutive points on a kill by Avram, a block by Mesa and Gillard and an ace by Lindberg.
 
Tamaira Armstrong finished the match with four kills and a block off the bench while Mya Robinson ended up with three kills and 10 digs. Nedima Kamberovic had an ace and a dig while Jovana Cernjanski had three digs.
 
Little Rock finished the match with 11 total blocks while Arkansas State put up seven.
 
The match's attendance of 913 was the second-best for a Little Rock volleyball match at the Jack Stephens Center since the building opened in 2005.
 
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