Box Score - Arkansas-Little Rock 3, South Alabama 1 (.pdf)

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The University of South Alabama women's volleyball team fought hard, but dropped a 3-1 (18-25, 25-20, 22-25, 20-25) decision Sunday afternoon to Arkansas-Little Rock at the Jack Stephens Center.

"Our team is going to fight every match," South Alabama head coach Amy Hendrichovsky said.  "In the end, we weren't able to control our side of the net and we weren't able to handle the easy plays and that made the difference in the match.  We'll now move on from this match and prepare to face Troy."

USA (10-13, 5-8 SBC) will now travel to Troy for a midweek match on Wednesday night.  First serve versus the Trojans is set for 7 p.m. at Trojan Arena.

Mechell Daniel led the Jaguars with 18 kills and 14 digs in the loss and hit .333 in the match (18-3-45).  The match marked the 10th double-double of the season for the freshman.  She has nine of her double-doubles this season versus Sun Belt competition.  

Fellow freshmen Jessica Lewis and Symone Stephenson also ended the match in double figures.  Lewis had 13 kills, while Stephenson had 10 – the first double-figure kill match of her career.  Stephenson also hit .368 (10-3-19) and had two aces and six total blocks – one solo and five assists.  Abby Baker had 13 digs for USA.

Arkansas-Little Rock improved to 19-7 overall and 11-3 in the league with the win.  Edina Begic led all players with 26 kills.  Begic also hit a match-high .426, committing just three attack errors in her 54 attempts.  Sophomore outside hitter Sonja Milanovic added 18 kills and 14 digs, while Trojan libero Kelsey Leech had 21 digs.

SET ONE: ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK 25, SOUTH ALABAMA 18
Tied at 4-4 in the first set, the Trojans began to pull away as they pushed across six of the next seven points.  Begic had a pair of kills during the run for Arkansas-Little Rock.  Carolee Dillard also had a solo block and capped off the scoring with a kill to give UALR an 11-5 advantage.  

After a Trojan serving error, Stephenson dropped in back-to-back service aces to pull the Jags to within three (11-8).  

South Alabama hung around and later narrowed the deficit to four twice, the last coming at 20-16 on Stephenson's third kill of the frame, but that would be as close as the Jaguars would get as UALR went on to take the early lead in the match with the 25-18 first-set victory.  Rachel Williams sealed the win for the Trojans with her third kill of the frame.

Begic was outstanding in the opening set as she had seven kills on 13 attacks and no errors for a .538 hitting percentage.

SET TWO: SOUTH ALABAMA 25, ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK 20
After recording just one kill each in the first set, the duo of Daniel and Lewis sparked the Jaguars in the second frame as they combined for 13 of South Alabama's 18 kills.

Trailing by one early in the set at 5-4, Daniel sparked a 6-1 run over the next seven points for the Jags with a kill.  Stephenson then followed with a pair of kills and Lewis also added two kills of her own during the USA run.  Kiki von Piekartz and Amber Wyatt capped off the scoring and put South Alabama up 10-6 when they teamed up for a block assists.  

With the Jaguars holding a 21-16 advantage following a Lewis' fifth kill of the frame, Begic sparked a run of three-straight unanswered points for the Trojans with her sixth kill of the set.  Arkansas-Little Rock then trimmed the deficit to 21-19 following back-to-back attack errors from South Alabama.

After trading points, Daniel slammed home her eighth kill of the frame to begin a run of three consecutive points for the Jags to close the set and give USA the 25-20 second-set victory.  The Jaguar defense evened the match when Mallory Moore and Stephenson combined for South Alabama's fifth and sixth block assists of the frame.  

USA hit .053 in the first set, but bounced back in the second to record a .343 (18-6-35).

SET THREE: ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK 25, SOUTH ALABAMA 22
South Alabama trailed by one early on in the third set, but pushed across four of the next five points and took a 6-3 lead on a kill from Stephenson.

The Jaguars later led by four (13-9) following a kill from Daniel, but Begic and Milanovic began a 5-1 run for UALR over the next six points to tie the set back up.  Rachel Williams posed a kill of her own and registered a solo block to knot things up at 14-14.  

With the set still tied at 21-21, the Trojans closed out the set by picking up four of the last five points.  Millanovic clinched the 25-22 set win with her eighth kill of the frame.

SET FOUR: ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK 25, SOUTH ALABAMA 20
Leading two sets to one heading into the fourth frame, Arkansas-Little Rock looked as if it was going to cruise to the match win.  USA took the first point of the set on an ace by Emily Hundt, but the Trojans would answer back with the next eight points.  USA committed a pair of attack errors at the start of the run.  Begic then added three of her eight kills in the set and Milanovic dropped in a pair of aces.  Adisa Hodzic put UALR up 8-1 with a solo block.  

Trailing 10-3 after another kill from Begic, South Alabama began to charge back as the Jaguars pushed across seven of the next eight points to cut the Trojan lead to 11-10.  USA cut the lead to one after and ace from Daniel and a kill from Lewis.  

With UALR holding a 14-13 lead, the Trojans reeled off four-straight points to extend their lead out to five (18-13).  Hodzic had a pair of kills during the min-run for Arkansas-Little Rock.  

South Alabama kept battling and pulled within two (22-20) after a kill and an ace from Daniel, but on the ensuing point, the Jaguars hit recorded an attack error to give UALR a three-point lead.  Hodzic then posted her third kill of the frame and Leech clinched the set and the match (25-20) with her second ace of the match.

Daniel had six kills and two aces in the final set for South Alabama.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

NOTES:  With the loss, South Alabama falls to 3-25 in the all-time series versus Arkansas-Little Rock.  The Trojans have take 25 of the last 27 meetings in the series.  USA is now 0-11 versus UALR in matches played in Little Rock.  With her 18-kill, 14-dig performance, South Alabama's Mechell Daniel now has 10 double-doubles this season and nine versus league foes.  The 10 kills by Symone Stephenson versus UALR marked the first double-figure kill match for the Jag freshman.  

—USA—