Trojans Open Texas Road Trip With 3-1 Loss at UTA

ARLINGTON, Texas – Little Rock volleyball opened its weekend in Texas with a four-set loss (23-25, 15-25, 25-23, 19-25) at UT Arlington on Friday night at College Park Center.
 
Marina Avram notched her 12th double-double of the season for the Trojans (9-17, 5-9 Sun Belt) with 20 kills and 10 digs. Daisha Gillard led the match with a .389 hitting percentage as she tallied nine kills and three total blocks. Taylor Lindberg had a match-high 34 assists as she also came up with seven digs, two kills and two block assists. Sydnee Martin tied the match-high for digs with 23 while leading the match with three aces. Veronica Marin led the match with four total blocks (two solo and two assisted).
 
Kylie Jedlicka led the Mavericks (12-13, 6-6 Sun Belt) with 20 kills Qiana Canete led the team with a .344 hitting percentage as she tallied a double-double with 13 kills and 23 digs.
 
The Trojans dropped a close first set after leading for the vast majority of the frame. With Little Rock up 23-21, UT Arlington ended the set on a four-point run. Avram led the set with six kills on 19 swings with no errors.
 
Little Rock never led in the second set as UT Arlington went on to take a 10-point victory. The Mavericks outhit the Trojans .256-.023 as UTA put down 14 kills to Little Rock's eight.
 
The Trojans redeemed themselves in the third set with a two-point win. Both squads stayed within three points of each other for the entire set. Little Rock hit .375 for the set with 17 kills while UTA hit .256 with 14 kills for the second consecutive set.
 
Little Rock had an early 3-1 lead in the fourth set, but UTA quickly took the lead with a 4-0 run and never gave it up. Just like the second set, Little Rock hit .023 with eight kills while UTA hit .233 with 16 kills.
 
Mya Robinson came up a kill shy of a double-double with nine kills and 16 digs. Tamaira Armstrong had two digs and one block assist. Jovana Cernjanski had four digs while Belissa Guidotti had one.
 
Little Rock finished the match with eight total blocks while UT Arlington came up with four.
 
The Trojans will conclude their road schedule at Texas State on Sunday at noon.