MONROE, La. (11/13/11) – The Arkansas State volleyball team finished its
regular season on Sunday with a 25-15, 25-20, 25-11 victory over
Louisiana-Monroe.
The Red Wolves, who clinched the Sun Belt West Division title on Friday
night, will enter this week’s Sun Belt Conference Tournament as the No. 3 seed.
A-State (20-10, 12-4 SBC) controlled the momentum throughout the match
against the Warhawks (10-16, 4-12) and used a seven-point rally in the first
set to take a 10-4 lead. A-State pushed the lead to 19-11 on Jasmine Terry’s
fourth kill of the set on its way to a 25-15 victory. Terry finished with a
match-high 15 kills and .542 hitting percentage.
“I was very pleased with our level of offensive consistency this
afternoon,” ASU head coach Justin Ingram said. “This was a great way to end the
regular season of conference play and we are eager to compete this coming week
at the conference tournament in Miami.”
A-State finished the match with .306 hitting percentage as a team, while
ULM managed just a .058 percentage. The Red Wolves turned in a .342 hitting
percentage in the third set compared to the Warhawks’ .050 percentage.
In the third ASU quickly jumped out to a 15-5 advantage and trailed just
once, on the set’s first point, throughout the entire set. Taylor Szypulski
added four of her eight kills in the set, while Megan Baska had nine of her
match-high 18 digs.
Louisiana-Monroe tested A-State in the second set and pulled within
21-20 late in the game. However, a kill from Terry and back-to-back attacking
errors from ULM gave the Red Wolves a set point opportunity, which Terry put
away with a kill.
Allison Kearney led A-State with 32 assists and 15 digs for her ninth
double-double of the season. Amanda Chaparro finished with 12 digs and six
kills, while Cayla Fielder had six kills and three blocks in her final regular
season match as a Red Wolf.
The Red Wolves will be seeded third going into the SBC conference
tournament, which is set to begin on Thursday in Miami, Fla.