Trojans come up aces in much-needed win over Tennessee State

The Little Rock Trojans put out one of their best efforts of the season on a night when they certainly needed it, putting an end to a three-game losing streak Friday and climbing two places in the Ohio Valley Conference standings with an impressive 3-1 win over Tennessee State at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
The Trojans (5-14 overall, 2-6 OVC) will look to complete a sweep of the Lady Tigers (2-17, 2-7) tomorrow when the teams face off again at 2 pm. The game can be seen on ESPN+. On Friday, the Trojans handed TSU its seventh consecutive loss — 25-16, 20-25, 25-19, 25-23.
 
Little Rock battled through a barrage of Tiger blocks (22) and took advantage of a season-high 16 service aces including a career-high six aces for both Bella Cherry and Daedrianna Cail. TSU entered the match second in the OVC in blocks and certainly showed why.
 
But, Little Rock battled through to hit .333 in the first set and .371 in the third to finish the night at .200 – the team's best hitting performance since Sept. 14 against Southern Miss (.222) and only the second time this season they've reached the .200 mark.
 
Cherry led the Little Rock attack with 15 kills, Cail had 10 and the team got seven apiece from Jeila Fullerton and Daria Burrows. Dariana Valencia had a team-high 24 assists while Kaylee Smith finished one dig shy of a double-double (18 assists, 9 digs). Andrea Roman had a team-high 16 digs and Cail led with three blocks.