Ohio Valley Conference

OXFORD, Miss. - Little Rock wrapped up a three-match weekend Sunday with a loss to the host team at the Ole Miss Invitational at the Gillom Athletics Performance Center. The Trojans (5-5) will now shift their focus to their home opener, set for Thursday at 6 pm against Central Arkansas. The two in-state rivals will meet for the second time this season, with this edition as part of the I-40 Governor's Showdown at the Jack Stephens Center.
 
Little Rock has dropped five straight matches after opening the season with five consecutive wins, matching the best start in program history in the process. Sunday's loss to Ole Miss (7-2) was competitive – much more so than Saturday's matches against FGCU and Drake – but unfortunately ended on the wrong side of the tally.
 
Ole Miss never trailed in the first two sets, taking a commanding lead with scores of 25-20 and 25-19. Little Rock battled in the third, tying the score on six occasions before falling 25-18. All-Tournament selection Bella Cherry led the attack with eight kills and a block, while Jeila Fullerton and Sophia Garrido each had seven. Garrido posted a .350 attack percentage with no errors.
 
Dariana Valencia had a team-high 16 assists, Kaylee Smith added 10 and A'lanae Margaritha served up a pair of aces to go with two blocks. Valencia also led the Trojans with seven digs. Little Rock hit .189 for the match but was outdone by the Ole Miss attack, which posted a hitting success rate of .330.

MISSOURI 3, LINDENWOOD 1
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Lindenwood women's volleyball (4-5, 0-0 OVC) lost a four-set match to end their weekend against SEC opponent Missouri (6-3, 0-0 MVC). They are only the second Ohio Valley Conference school to win a set against a Power Four opponent.

Senior Nyah Wilson was all over the court for the Lions leading the way with eight kills on a .154 hitting percentage. Wilson also had six digs and one block assist defensively. Lindenwod had four defenders earn at least six kills on Sunday.

Autumn Bax continued her strong weekend with another seven kills at Missouri while adding two blocks. Ashley Geluck led the way in hitting percentage after going for .264 with six kills and three blocks. Lindenwood had 31 kills as a team while hitting .106.

Allie Otten and Abby VanBuskirk split setter duties picking up 15 and 10 digs respectively. The duo also battled on the defensive side with seven and six digs each. Lindenwood had 36 digs led by libero Jessie Seidel who had 10. LU also had five blocks.

Lindenwood started the first set off without a hitch taking advantage of errors by Missouri. The Lions held leads of 5-1 and 10-6 before Mizzou stormed back. The Tigers held LU to just three kills in the set although Lindenwood's defense forced Missouri into seven errors and two blocks.

Set two was won by Missouri by a score of 16-25 after the Tigers hit .393 with 13 kills. Lindenwood was able to do a better job on offense with eight kills in the second. Anna Kraemer had a team-high three kills in the second.

Lindenwood put it all together in the third set winning by a score of 25-22 after slamming down 16 kills on .333 hitting percentage. The Lions opened up the set with an 12-7 lead, but the Tigers closed the gap getting as close as 20-20. Errors by Missouri late in the third helped the Lions to a set win. Wilson and Bax both had four kills in the third.

Missouri finished off the match in the fourth taking advantage of service mistakes by the Lions. Lindenwood had only four kills in the final set before losing 13-25.