Playing in front of a home crowd for the first time this season, Little Rock had Tennessee Tech on the ropes, just needing one last punch to score a knockout. Instead, the visiting Golden Eagles landed crucial counterpunches and stormed back from a 2-0 deficit to top the Trojans 3-2 at the Jack Stephens Center on Friday.
The Trojans (3-11 overall, 0-3 OVC) stormed out of the gate, using the momentum of an excited home crowd to take the first two sets by scores of 25-13 and 25-19, but Tennessee Tech (5-9, 1-2) got the jump in the third and rode that to an easy third set win. The fourth set was tied on 13 different occasions before the visitors scored the final three points to send it to a fifth and decisive frame.
A 6-0 run by the Golden Eagles put the Trojans in a 9-3 hole that they never recovered from, sending Little Rock to its sixth consecutive defeat.
Bella Cherry led the Trojans with 12 kills,
Dariana Valencia posted a double-double with 19 assists and 14 digs, and
Kaylee Smith had 11 assists.
Andrea Roman led the team with 15 digs and Cherry completed a double-double adding 10 digs.
Daedrianna Cail had a game-high seven blocks.
Little Rock will look to earn a split of the series tomorrow when the teams meet again at 2 pm.
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