LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Despite a hard-fought match by the Golden Eagles, the UALR Trojans had the upper-hand , defeating ORU in a thrilling five-game match by scores of 26-30, 30-19, 24-30, 30-23, 13-15.

Junior Jackie Oliveira would continue her 10-match streak of double-digit kills, finishing the evening with 21 kills and 17 digs, her fifth double-double of the season. Junior JoJo Souza was dominant for ORU at the net, finishing the night with 16 kills and six blocks.

Leading the Trojans was Amila Barakovic with 13 kills and 11 digs, while setter Lenka Melicharkova finished with 42 assists.

The Golden Eagles and Trojans swapped points back and forth in game one until the right-handed Janete Ferreira gave a sweet left-handed kill to give ORU the 6-5 advantage. Jackie Oliveira would lay down a kill to give ORU the 9-6 lead and UALR would take a timeout. Oral Roberts would hold the lead until small errors by the Golden Eagles would give the Trojans a one-point lead, 18-17. After an ORU timeout, UALR would go on a five-point streak, taking a 23-18 advantage. A Jackie Oliveira kill would break the streak and ORU would climb back to within two, but could not hold on as UALR would take game one, 30-26.

In game two, ORU would climb to a 10-3 advantage with the help of super-hard kills by Danjiela Novakovic and JoJo Souza before the Trojans would take a timeout. UALR would score four-straight points, 11-7, but ORU would not let up as blocks by Jocelyn Swier and Juliane Vieira as well as Novakovic kills would wear down the Trojans. ORU would lead by as much as 14 points (27-13) and would send the Trojans back to the bench for their final timeout. UALR would come out swinging with a kill by Ivanka Davidova to earn the first point after the timeout and would add five more to that to force ORU to take their first timeout of the game, 29-19. The Golden Eagles would fight for the last point, wining the game 30-19 off of a service error by Ivanka Davidova. ORU would hold the Trojans to a .050 hitting percentage in game two, their second-lowest of the season.

Game three would find ORU with the early lead for the third-straight game, leading by as many as five (10-5), until UALR would climb to within one off of a Trojan block and a service ace by Melissa Soares. The Golden Eagles would take a timeout with the lead, 14-13. JoJo Souza would slam a kill right back at Soares to give the ball back to ORU, 15-13. The Trojans would tie the game 17-17 after a Dilyana Deyanova block and would then take the lead off of a block by Anita Bucur and Deyanova. After an ORU timeout, ORU would fight for the lead, coming as close as two from a kill by Nicole Weis, but UALR would prove to be too much for the Golden Eagles, taking the game, 30-24.

Thais Parada would get the start in game four and would be an instant play-maker, scoring the first point for ORU with a kill. Back-and-forth both teams would go until a JoJo Souza block would give ORU momentum, taking the lead 7-4. UALR would take a timeout after a Parada ace with the ORU lead at five, 14-9. UALR would not go down easily as Ivanka Davidova had a stellar solo block to help the Trojans climb back to within two, 19-21, before Oral Roberts would take a timeout. UALR could not stop Souza as she was a force at the net, contributing to the 29-23 lead with two blocks and won the game four with a game-point kill, 30-23.

Parada would lead off for ORU in game five, earning ORU's first point with a service ace, followed by a Jackie Oliveira kill to give ORU the 2-1 advantage. Two Trojan kills and a solo Davidova block would give UALR the 5-3 lead. ORU would stay right with the Trojans as Parada would down a kill to tie the score, 6-6. The teams would switch sides with UALR taking the slight advantage, 8-7, after a service error by JoJo Souza. The Golden Eagles would take a timeout with the score at 7-10, advantage UALR. The Golden Eagles would score two-straight points to be within one, 9-10, but the Trojans would not let up, scoring three points before forcing ORU to take their final timeout with the score at 10-13. JoJo Souza would force the Trojans to take an immediate timeout after a kill and block would keep ORU in the game, 13-14. But the UALR home advantage would prove too much for ORU,

The Golden Eagles will return to action this weekend as they host their first home and conference-opener of the season against Oakland. Match time is set for 7 p.m. at the Cooper Aerobics Center of the ORU campus. Live streaming and live statistics will be available for the Golden Eagles first match in the newly renamed Summit League.

-ORU-