Trojans bounce back with sweep, record first-ever win over EIU

CHARLESTON, Illinois — After falling just short of accomplishing a reverse sweep over Eastern Illinois on Friday night, Little Rock (16-13 overall, 11-5 OVC) held nothing back Saturday in a straight-set sweep of the Panthers, notching its first win over EIU in program history while heading into the bye week in position to secure one of the top seeds at the OVC Championship later this month.
 
Little Rock hit .250 for the match, including .357 in a dominant opening set (25-11) that set the tone for the remainder of the match. Jeila Fullerton (14 kills) and Kaila Harris (13) led the attack while each hit at least .300 and finished with a double-double. Fullerton added 11 digs and Harris totaled 10. A'lanae Margaritha boosted the offense with a .429 hitting performance, Bella Cherry finished with seven kills and Crismeyli Rodriguez added five.
 
Despite two close sets in the second and third (25-22, 25-23), the match featured just seven ties and only two lead changes. EIU hit just .018 in the contest with almost as many hitting errors (28) as kills (30). Jaycee Kennedy (7 blocks) made a difference at the net for Little Rock, defensively.
 
Dariana Valencia led the Trojans with 21 assists, Kaylee Smith set up 16 of her own, and both Fullerton and Cherry had three blocks.
 
The Trojans have a bye next week before wrapping up the regular season at home Nov. 19-20 against second-place Lindenwood.
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EXTRA POINTS
 
• Jeila Fullerton moved past 800 career kills and is closing in on 1,000 points for her career (957.5) … Saturday's match was the 100^th of her collegiate career
 
• Kaila Harris surpassed 500 career digs and is closing in on 500 career points (486.5)
 
• Jaycee Kennedy is seven blocks shy of 100 for the season
 
• Andrea Roman set a new program record Friday for most digs in a season and now sets her sights on the career record list … Roman has 880 kills in her two seasons, just 53 short of 10^th place in the Little Rock record book
 
• Saturday's win ensures the Trojans of finishing no worse than .500 for the season for the first time since 2018, when Little Rock finished 19-13