FAYETTEVILLE — Don’t let the final score fool you … the Little Rock Volleyball team may have gone down in straight sets Sunday against the 21st-ranked Arkansas Razorbacks, but not before pushing them to the limit in two of those sets and scoring more points against the hosts than any of the other three teams at the Wooo Pig Invitational.
No, there are no heads dropping after this performance. Instead, the mood surrounding this version of Little Rock Volleyball is one of serious optimism. The Trojans (5-2) knocked off Big 10 foe Rutgers on Friday, pushed a very good Wichita State team in all four sets Saturday, then gave the ranked Razorbacks (7-0) a little taste of what another in-state team is capable of before falling by scores of 25-23, 25-18 and 25-23.
“I thought we started a little timid, maybe the name on the jersey across the net caused that. Despite the loss, we had some bright spots with Jeila, A’lanae and Sophia. We also scored the most points against Arkansas than any of the other three teams.” — Little Rock head coach Van Compton
Jeila Fullerton posted her sixth double-double of the season with 16 match-high kills and 13 digs on a season-best .516 attacking percentage (13 kills, 0 errors, 31 attempts) and Bella Cherry finished with 13 kills. Little Rock hit .194 for the match and finished with 52 points against the Razorbacks in front of 1,500 fans at Barnhill Arena.
Sophia Garrido added seven kills and a pair of blocks, wrapping up a solid weekend of play for the junior from Cabot (Ark.) High School. Dariana Valencia had a double-double with 20 assists and 11 digs, Kaylee Smith finished with 15 assists and Andrea Roman had 13 digs.
Jaycee Kennedy had a team-high five blocks while Fullerton and Rylee McClintock each surpassed 500 career digs during Sunday’s match.
Little Rock will have the week to prepare for another busy weekend at the Ole Miss Invitational on Sept. 14-15. The Trojans will face another tough slate of opponents in Florida Gulf Coast, Drake, and host Ole Miss in Oxford, Miss.
