RUSTON, La. — The Little Rock Trojans atoned for a loss earlier in the season and finished Day 1 of the Louisiana Tech Invitational with two wins in as many matches, beating the host school 3-1. Louisiana Tech had swept Little Rock in a match on Aug. 26 during the Arkansas State Invitational.
Little Rock (2-5) took the first two sets then overcame a sloppy third to finish the match in four sets with scores of 25-21, 25-23, 9-25, and 25-23. The Trojans will finish the two-day invitational tomorrow with a 3:30 pm contest against Lamar University (Tex.).
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LEADING THE WAY
Carolina Rodriguez paced the Trojans with 12 kills,
Daedrianna Cail had 9 kills while
Arianna Escudero,
Sophia Garrido, and
Bella Cherry each had 8 kills.
Dariana Valencia had a team-high 21 assists and
Kaylee Smith finished a double-double with 14 assists and 14 digs. Cherry led the team with 17 digs and
Rylee McClintock had 15.
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SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST
Little Rock managed to hit just 0.164 in the opening set and 0.174 in the second, but after a third set that saw their attacking percentage reach as low as -0.182, the Trojans responded in the fourth and decisive set with 14 kills and just five errors on 32 attacks for a percentage of 0.281.
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MAKING A RUN
Little Rock had several key runs throughout the match, starting in the first set when the Trojans scored the last five points to take it by a 25-21 score. They put together another run of five points in the second set to take an early lead and three straight to break a 17-17 tie. The Trojans scored the first six points of the fourth set, providing the necessary cushion to pave the way for the team to close out the win.
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