MOREHEAD, Kentucky — Buried beneath the weight of a two-set deficit, Little Rock started digging … and digging … and didn't quit until they had completed a reverse sweep victory over Morehead State for a 3-2 road conference victory Friday night at Johnson Arena. The Trojans will go for a series sweep when the teams meet again Saturday afternoon at 1 pm CST.
Kaila Harris and
Bella Cherry each had a game-high 15 kills and
Vivian Lucumi finished with a career-best eight blocks to spark the Trojans to a thrilling come-from-behind conference victory. Little Rock (8-9 overall, 3-1 OVC) certainly looked like a team coming off a long bus ride, hitting just .052 over the first two sets, which the Trojans would lose by scores of 25-15 and 25-17. But with their backs against the wall, the Trojans awoke to the tune of .400 attacking in the third set, needing extra points to win 28-26.
Little Rock went on to win the fourth set 25-19, forcing a fifth set won by the Trojans, 15-11. Little Rock closed out the third set with a pair of kills by
Kaila Harris, who finished with a game-high 15 kills. In the fourth set, the Trojans got out to leads of 6-1 and 9-3 early, then led by as much as 22-13 before closing out the set with a kill from
Crismeyli Rodriguez.
The final frame was tied at 10-10 but the Trojans closed it on a 5-1 run that included a pair of kills from Harris and a pair of Morehead errors. In all, the match had 23 ties and eight lead changes. Little Rock finished with a light advantage in attacking, .175 to .174.
Dariana Valencia recorded a double-double with 24 assists and 12 digs,
Andrea Roman led the defense with 23 digs and
Kaylee Smith had 15 assists. In addition to her work on the offensive side, Harris also had eight digs and four blocks.
A'lanae Margaritha and
Jaycee Kennedy also had four blocks each. Little Rock posted a season-high 14 blocks against the Eagles.
Little Rock's 3-1 start in conference play is the best for the program since joining the Ohio Valley Conference in 2022.
