The objective is clear for the Little Rock volleyball team. A sweep of SIUE on Wednesday and Thursday will put the Trojans into the OVC Championships. Any other result will not. That storyline sets up what should be an entertaining regular season finale when the Cougars visit the Jack Stephens Center this week. Both matches start at 6 pm and can be seen on ESPN+.
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MATCH NOTES
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SIUE (13-14, 7-9 OVC) sits just one game ahead of the Trojans (9-18, 6-10) for the eighth and final spot in the conference tournament that runs from Nov. 20-22. Little Rock needs to take both matches to sneak into the eighth spot.
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SERIES HISTORY — This is just the third and fourth meetings between the schools, with SIUE taking both matches last season in Edwardsville, Ill. By scores of 3-2 and 3-1. This is the first time the teams will meet in Little Rock.
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TROJAN NOTES — Little Rock played itself into position for the OVC tournament by sweeping two matches at UT Martin last week.
Bella Cherry posted 13 kills in each match, helping the team hit for a season-best .263 percentage in the first meeting. Darian Valencia notched her ninth and 10
th double-doubles of the season with 22 assists and 12 digs in the opener, followed by 15 assists and 12 digs in the finale.
Daedrianna Cail had six blocks in the first match and was one of four players to put up three blocks in the second match.
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SCOUTING THE COUGARS — SIUE ranks fifth in the OVC in hitting (.195) and sixth in opponent hitting (.203). They also rank fifth in assists and sixth in kills but where the team stands out is in blocks, where they rank first in the OVC with 2.30 blocks per set. Priscilla Jones ranks seventh individually in blocks and ninth in hitting percentage.
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