NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Little Rock rode a roller coaster of efficiency Friday in a conference road match against Tennessee State, but held on for the duration of the ride to earn the prize at the end … a 3-2 come-from-behind win over the Tigers at Kean Hall Gymnasium. The Trojans (11-10 overall, 6-2 OVC) notched their third straight victory and equaled their win total from last season, when Little Rock finished 11-19.
Tennessee State fell to 5-15, 1-6 and the visiting Trojans will look to complete the series sweep tomorrow afternoon when the teams meet again at 2 pm. There will be no streaming available but live stats can be accessed on LRTrojans.com.
Jeila Fullerton led the team in kills (16), digs (20) and blocks (5), recording her team-best 11
th double-double of the season.
Bella Cherry hit .316 while finishing with 14 kills while
Dariana Valencia (24 assists, 17 digs),
Kaylee Smith (18 assists, 11 digs) and
Andrea Roman (15 digs, 11 assists) also reached double-doubles.
Little Rock opened up a 5-2 lead in the opening set, but a 9-0 run by TSU gave the host team the lead for good. The Trojans trailed by as many as 13 and hit just .088 compared to .265 for the Tigers, dropping the set by a 25-13 score. In the second set, the Trojans stormed back, taking an early 11-4 lead. TSU closed the gap to one at 20-19 before Little Rock ripped off four straight to force a set point. TSU responded with four points to close the margin to 24-23, but Fullerton served an ace and Harris clinched the set with a kill. Fullerton finished with eight kills in the set.
TSU jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the third set but the Trojans bounced back to tie it at 10-10. The set would see seven additional tie scores until the Tigers put together a 4-0 run to take a 23-19 lead before closing out at 25-20. TSU would lead briefly in the fourth set at 3-2, their only lead of the frame. Little Rock strung together a 7-1 tun to take an 18-12 advantage. Cherry had seven kills in the set, which the Trojans won 25-18. In the final set, Little Rock never led by more than three but also never trailed.
Crismeyli Rodriguez (7 kills, .294 hitting) closed the book on Friday's match with a kill.
A'lanae Margaritha played an effective all-around game, finishing with seven kills on .250 hitting to go with three blocks and three aces. Valencia had a team-high four aces while
Jaycee Kennedy added a pair of blocks.
With 10 games to play in the regular season, Little Rock equals its 2023 win total and is just two conference wins shy of matching their total from last season, when the Trojans finished 8-10 in OVC play.
