Little Rock smothers UT Martin with sweep in conference opener

LITTLE ROCK — With a rough ending to the non-conference schedule, Little Rock got exactly what it needed during Friday's Ohio Valley Conference opener, sweeping UT Martin in straight sets at the Jack Stephens Center. The Trojans dominated from start to finish in their most efficient outing of the season, a match that took just 90 minutes to complete.
 
Little Rock (6-8, 1-0 OVC) dispatched the visiting Skyhawks (2-8, 0-1) by scores of 25-21, 25-17, and 25-16, hitting a season-high .294 while setting a new season-low with only nine attacking errors. The two teams will complete their conference series tomorrow in Little Rock. First serve is set for 2 pm and the match can be streamed on ESPN+.
 

"We're excited about winning our home conference opener … our overall performance was very good tonight especially with Margaritha in the middle and Vivian playing out of position. But our work isn't done … we have them again tomorrow and we know they'll be ready to play." — Little Rock head coach Van Compton

 
A'lanae Margaritha spearheaded an overwhelming Little Rock attack, hitting .615 with no errors while finishing with eight kills. She also added a game-high five blocks. Vivian Lucumi hit .571 and also committed no errors, finishing with eight kills and two blocks. Bella Cherry had a team-high nine kills and added two blocks and Jeila Fullerton finished with seven kills, eight digs and two blocks.
 
Kaylee Smith led the Trojans with 19 assists, Dariana Valencia had a double-double with 14 assists and 12 digs, and Andrea Roman led the defense with 17 digs to go with seven assists. Kaila Harris filled the stat sheet with six kills, four aces, six digs and a block. Jaycee Kennedy recorded her 100^th career block and added three kills.
 
Little Rock got better as the match progressed, hitting .250 in the opening set, .273 in the second and finishing at .375 in the third with 13 kills and just one error on 32 attempts. The match saw just six lead changes. UT Martin finished with a .136 attack percentage and committed 34 total errors. Little Rock improved to 10-3 all time against UT Martin and now owns a three-game win streak against the Skyhawks.