COOKEVILLE, Tennessee — In a nip and tuck battle between two teams jockeying for position in the Ohio Valley Conference, it wasn't the highest-scoring team that fared better, rather the side that made the fewest mistakes. Little Rock was the more efficient of the two, turning 51 Tennessee Tech errors into a 3-1 road win Friday at the Eblen Center. The Trojans (13-10 overall, 8-2 OVC) increased their win streak to five – the longest conference win streak for Little Rock since 2014.
Little Rock handed Tennessee Tech (16-5, 5-4) its first home loss of the season while taking advantage of 34 attacking miscues and 13 service errors by the Golden Eagles, who would outpoint the Trojans by a 75-61 margin, but just couldn't get out of their own way. The Trojans gladly allowed the hosts to shoot themselves in the foot, maintaining their grip on third place in the conference standings, a half-game behind second-place SEMO and 1.5 back of Lindenwood.
Kaila Harris and
A'lanae Margaritha provided huge sparks for Little Rock, coming up with crucial points when the Trojans needed them most. Harris totaled 15 digs, 13 kills and three blocks in her third double-double of the season. Margaritha had eight kills, matched her career-high with seven blocks and added a pair of aces. Sophomore
Andrea Roman added 18 digs and six assists while moving into the school record book for single-season digs in the rally-scoring era (432). Roman is now 10
th all-time and just 73 digs from the top five. She's on pace to obliterate the program record (541) by year's end.
"This was a great win on the road for us to help us keep our position in the conference. Kayla and A'lanae both had an outstanding match. Our work isn't finished though, and we'll meet them again tomorrow night." – Little Rock head coach Van Compton
The contest featured 39 ties and 15 lead changes, and neither team led by more than five at any point in the match. Little Rock had a five-point lead in the opening set, while TTU led by five in the fourth. Ironically, neither team would win in the set with its biggest lead. Tennessee Tech opened with a win in the opening set, but Little Rock ripped off three straight set wins. Set scores were 23-25, 25-22, 25-23, and 25-22.
Dariana Valencia finished with 21 digs and 20 assists for her 11
th double-double and second 20-20 game of the season.
Jeila Fullerton had 15 digs and 10 assists for her team-leading 13
th double-double,
Kaylee Smith had 14 assists and 10 digs for her seventh double-double, and
Bella Cherry chipped in nine kills and four blocks.
The series finale will begin Saturday at 7 pm from the Eblen Center. Live streaming is available on ESPN+.
