September 17, 2014
Troy Volleyball Wins in Sun Belt Opener
TROY, Alabama – The Troy volleyball team rebounded from a tough first set to defeat Georgia Southern, 3-1 (13-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22), in the Sun Belt opener for both teams on Wednesday night at Trojan Arena.
Troy (9-4, 1-0) snapped a three-match losing streak with the win and also remained undefeated at home, running its record to 5-0 inside Trojan Arena this season.
“They totally took us out of our game in the first set,” Troy head coach Sonny Kirkpatrick. “We made a couple of slight adjustments, but it was basically just getting back to what we want to do. Once we started doing that, we saw the benefits and then things snowballed a little bit, helping us get momentum.”
Georgia Southern (0-10, 0-1), who played arguably the toughest non-conference schedule in the Sun Belt, started fast and hit .500 in the first set on its way to a 25-13. The Trojans rebounded in the second set, hitting .423 to win that frame, 25-21.
Troy held Georgia Southern, who won the Southern Conference championship a year ago, to .105 and .083 attack percentages in the third and fourth sets. Troy won the third set 25-21 and the fourth set 25-22. The fourth set featured 13 ties and four lead changes.
Symone Shaw and Blair Winston posted 13 kills each for the Trojans while Darby Griff had 12. Winston hit .303 with just three errors on 33 attempts while Griff hit .348 with just four errors on 23 attempts.
Tineille Waggoner had 39 assists, helping Troy to a .224 attack percentage. The Trojans held the Eagles to a .203 attack percentage, thanks in large part to 20 digs from Ali Dowdall. Troy also posted 7.0 total team blocks with Georgia Southern posting just 4.0 blocks.
The Trojans return to the court on Friday when they travel to take on UT Arlington. The Trojans and Mavericks played three five-set matches a season ago. Each home team won during the regular season, but the Mavericks won at Trojan Arena in the Sun Belt Championships semifinals.
UT Arlington (10-3, 0-1) lost its Sun Belt opener on Tuesday, falling in five sets at Texas State. Prior to that, the Mavericks had won three straight, all three at the College Park Center where they are 5-2 this season.
Troy’s next home match will be on Sunday when another Sun Belt newcomer, Appalachian State, visit Trojan Arena. The Mountaineers became the first team in Sun Belt history to go undefeated in non-conference play, and they are receiving votes in the AVCA Division I Coaches Poll.
For more information on Troy Athletics, visit TroyTrojans.com. Fans can also find Troy on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube by searching for Troy Athletics.
Georgia Southern Falls 3-1 at Troy in First Sun Belt Match
TROY, Ala. – Blair Winston and Symone Shaw each posted 13 kills to lead Troy to a 3-1 (13-25, 25-21, 25-21, 25-22) Sun Belt Conference volleyball victory over Georgia Southern Wednesday night in Troy Arena.
It was the first Sun Belt match for the Eagles, who spent the last 22 seasons as members of the Southern Conference.
Jamie DeRatt led Georgia Southern with 19 kills to go along with nine digs, and Kym Coley tallied 13 kills and two blocks. Cathrine Murray added 10 kills and six digs, and Kat Minnerly finished with 46 assists, six digs and a block.
Ali Dowdall finished with a match-high 20 digs for Troy, and Tineille Waggoner posted 39 assists, six digs and four blocks. Darby Griff added 12 kills.
Down 2-1 in the match and with the score tied 20-20 in the fourth set, Georgia Southern (0-10, 0-1) appeared to take the lead as Minnerly set the ball off the net with one hand and Coley hammered it down. After much deliberation between the up and down officials, Minnerly’s set was ruled a lift, and the point went to the Trojans (9-4, 1-0).
The Eagles scored the next two points to take a brief 22-21 lead, but the Trojans capped the set and the match with four straight points. Shaw had a kill and a solo block during the run, and Kiah Cheatham combined with Marija Zelenovic for a block.
Leading the first set 11-9, the Eagles scored six straight points to take control. Bernetta Moore served five points during the run and capped it with an ace, and Georgia Southern pushed the margin to 20-11. Leading 23-13, Minnerly dumped the ball over the net for set point, and DeRatt finished it with an ace.
Troy took control of the second set with an 8-2 run that opened a 14-8 cushion. The margin grew to as many as eight points at 20-12. The Eagles battled back and cut the lead to three points late, but with Troy leading 24-21, Winston put down a kill to tie the match 1-1.
The Trojans ran off three straight points early in the third set and had a five-point working margin for most of the frame. The Eagles cut the lead to 14-11, but Troy used a 5-2 run, capped by a Cheatham kill, to keep the Eagles at bay. Georgia Southern made a last push as Coley got a kill, and Erin Dobbeck followed with an ace to make the score 24-21, but Griff ended the set with a kill.
Georgia Southern plays its first Sun Belt Conference home match Friday, Sept. 19, against a familiar foe. The Eagles will take on undefeated Appalachian State at 6 p.m. at Statesboro High School. Georgia Southern students get in free with a student ID. Admission for the general public is $5 for adults and $3 for youth, ages 12-and-under.
Georgia Southern plays host to Arkansas State Sunday, Sept. 21, at noon at Statesboro High, and admission is free for all fans.
Balanced Offensive Attack Leads Jaguars to 3-2 Road Win OVer UL Lafayette in Sun Belt Opener
LAFAYETTE, La. – The University of South Alabama volleyball team placed four players in double figures offensively and opened up the Sun Belt Conference portion of its schedule with a thrilling 3-2 (25-23, 17-25, 25-14, 17-25, 16-14) road win over Louisiana-Lafayette Wednesday night at Earl K. Long Gym.
"I knew coming into this match that Louisiana-Lafayette was executing at a high level and I knew that it was going to be a battle for our team," South Alabama head coach Amy Hendrichovsky said. "I thought that our players came into the first set very focused on our game plan and that they executed that nicely. I give credit to (Louisiana-) Lafayette for pushing us back and battling back. It was a good, competitive match and I was glad for us to get the win in the end."
The Jaguars (6-5, 1-0 SBC) will now return home this weekend to host Georgia State on Sunday at noon at Jag Gym. Live stats and web streaming for the match versus the Panthers will be available at www.USAJaguars.com.
USA was led by Jessica Lewis' 17 kills and two solo blocks. Mechell Daniel also recorded her fifth double-double of the season with a 14 kill, 13 dig performance. Middle blocker Nikki Gittens tied a career-high with 12 kills and also led the club at the net with five total blocks – one solo and four assists – to go along with her two service aces. Mallory Moore chipped in with 10 kills of her own, while junior setter Emily Hundt registered her fourth double-double of the season as well with 44 assists and 10 digs.
"Offensively, we have multiple weapons and have the ability to be a balanced offense," Hendrichovsky said. "When our setters can find the hot hand and balance this offense, it makes it difficult for our opponents to defend."
In the defensive back court, Abby Baker, the reigning SBC Defensive Player of the Week, led all players with 25 digs for the Jags. Savannah Stewart also added 10 digs of her own.
The loss was the first of the season for Louisiana-Lafayette and dropped the Ragin' Cajuns to 10-1 on the year and 0-1 in the league. Chanelle Gardner led the club with 13 kills and five block assists in the loss. Sara Mossakowski and Stacey Reilly each finished with 12 kills apiece, while also posting 11 and 14 digs, respectively. Kaylee Nemeth came in off the bench and added nine kills of her own and finished with a .350 hitting percentage.
ULL setter Andrea Hole added 47 assists and 10 digs of her own.
SET ONE: SOUTH ALABAMA 25, LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 23
Louisiana-Lafayette led by as much as three early on in the opening set, but the Jaguars battled back and took a 14-12 lead after an ace by Savannah Stewart. USA held the two-point advantage over the next several points. ULL though tied the contest back up at 17-17 and then took a two-point lead of its own after an ace and a kill by Mossakowski.
USA answered back with three-straight points of its own on kills from Symone Stephenson, Lewis and Moore to take a 20-19 lead, but Mossakowski slammed home her seventh kill of the set to bring things all square. The Ragin' Cajuns picked up the next two points to again stretch their lead out to two (22-20), but the Jags closed the set strong, ending the frame on a 5-1 run.
The South Alabama defense began the pivotal run as Gittens and Emma Anderson combined to turn back a ULL attack. Then with the set tied at 23-23, Hundt and Gittens teamed up for a block assist and Gittens then clinched the 25-23 win for the Jaguars with her third kill of the set.
SET TWO: LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 25, SOUTH ALABAMA 17
In the second set, it was the Jaguars who got off to a quick start, picking up the first three points on a kill and a solo block from Lewis and a Cajun attack error, but ULL rallied back and took a one-point advantage (7-6) following a pair of Mossakowski kills and an Abby Flice put away.
Louisiana-Lafayette later extended its lead out to 13-9 after a kill by Stacey Reilly kill.
USA was able to narrow the deficit to two more times, but with ULL holding a 15-13 lead, ULL stretched its lead out to five after a kill and an ace by Gardner. From there, the Ragin' Cajuns held control and evened the match at one set apiece with the 25-17 second-set win.
SET THREE: SOUTH ALABAMA 25, LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 14
Holding a one-point advantage (5-4) early in the third set, South Alabama gained some breathing room as it rattled off five unanswered points and took a 10-4 lead on kill from Daniel.
Over the next several points, ULL hung around and held the deficit to three much of the way. Led by Daniel though – who had eight kills during the third set – South Alabama used a late run to pull away from the Ragin' Cajuns. With USA holding an 18-13 lead, Daniel sparked a 5-0 spurt as the sophomore recorded three more kills during the run. Hundt capped off the scoring and gave the Jaguars a double-digit lead (23-13) with an ace.
Moore later sealed the 25-14 win and put USA up 2-1 in the match with back-to-back kills, her fourth and fifth, respectively, of the set. Lewis also had four kills for South Alabama in the third set.
SET FOUR: LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 25, SOUTH ALABAMA 17
After dropping the previous set, ULL came out and jumped out early in the fourth, capturing the first four points of the frame, two of which coming on a pair of Keely Hayes aces.
Trailing 14-8 later in the frame, the Jaguars attempted to rally back as they picked up six of the next seven points and cut the deficit to 15-14 on an ace by Gittens. However, USA would draw no closer as on the next point, the Jags committed a serving error, igniting a 6-0 run for the host Cajuns. Nemeth led the charge for Louisiana-Lafayette during the run as she posted three kills and a block assists to extend ULL's lead out to 20-14.
Chanelle Gardner later sent the two clubs into a deciding fifth set as she posted her fourth kill of the frame to give the Ragin' Cajuns a 25-17 win.
SET FIVE: SOUTH ALABAMA 16, LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 14
South Alabama broke an early 3-3 tie in the final set after a pair of kills from Gittens and an ace. USA later extended its lead out to four (9-5) after kills from Daniel and Moore.
Two points later, ULL charged right back and cut the Jaguar lead to 10-9 after a kill from Nemeth.
Coming out of a time out, Lewis slammed home a pair of kills and ULL committed an attack error to put USA up 13-9. Two points later, Lewis put the Jags at match point, but Reilly posted another kill to keep the Cajuns alive. South Alabama then registered three consecutive attack errors to even the set back up at 14-14.
The all-conference duo of Lewis and Daniel would have the answer though for the Jaguars as they each recorded a kill to clinch the 16-14 win for South Alabama.
NOTES: The match versus Louisiana-Lafayette Wednesday night was the 56th in the all-time series. Dating back to the 2011 season, USA has now won five-straight in the series and its last three meetings versus ULL in Lafayette. South Alabama is now 7-16 in both Sun Belt openers and SBC road openers. The Jags have won four of their last five SBC openers. The 14 kill, 13 digs performance was the fifth double-double of the season for USA's Mechell Daniel. Jaguar setter Emily Hundt also posted her fourth double-double of the season against ULL with 44 assists and 10 digs. Nikki Gittens tied a season-high with 12 kills of her own. The loss was the first for Louisiana-Lafayette this season and snapped a 10-match win streak for the program.
Jaguars Hand Cajuns Season’s First Defeat
LAFAYETTE, La. – The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns fought back from down 2-1 to force a fifth set, and rallied from a late four-point deficit in the final set, but fell just short as South Alabama handed them their first loss of the season, 3-2 (25-23, 17-25, 25-14, 17-25, 16-14), at Earl K. Long Gym.
Louisiana (10-1, 0-1 SBC) hit .385 in the fourth set after finding itself down 2-1 for the first time this season; however, the Jaguars (6-5, 1-0 SBC) never trailed in the final set, leading by as much as four points and reaching their first match-point try at 14-10.
The Cajuns reeled off four consecutive points of their own, getting kills from Chanelle Gardner and Stacey Reilly to help do so, and knotted the set at 14-14. But the Jaguars went to their top two scorers on the night – Jessica Lewis and Mechell Daniel – for the match’s final two points to pick up their fourth win in their last five matches, and their fifth straight win over UL since 2011.
The loss puts to an end the Cajuns’ 10-match win streak to open the season, a mark that is only bettered by a 13-0 start in 1990.
Gardner finished with a team-high 13 kills and five blocks for the Cajuns, who hit .200 for the match. Reilly and Andrea Hole each picked up double-doubles - Reilly with 12 kills and 14 digs, and Hole registering 47 assists, 10 digs and four blocks.
Sara Mossakowski also earned a double-double, with 12 kills and 11 digs, getting seven of her kills in the opening set. Caitlyn Auxilien added 19 digs, and Keely Hayes had 13, giving the Cajuns five players with at least 10 digs.
Lewis led all players with 17 kills and Daniel 14 for the Jaguars, who picked up the win despite hitting just .143 for the match.
USA hit just .116 in the first set, but finished the set on a 5-2 run to close out the opening set 25-23, despite Mossakowski’s seven scores. But the Ragin’ Cajuns ramped up their defense in the second frame, forcing 11 Jaguar errors and a -.057 attack percentage. UL never trailed after a kill from Abby Filce gave it an 8-7 advantage. The Cajuns stretched out the lead to as much as four at 15-11 on a block from Gardner and Hole, and ran out the set for a 25-17 win behind Hayes’ final three serves.
However, the Jaguars flipped the script in the third set, hitting .441 with 19 of its 25 points coming from kills and ended the set on a 7-1 run to cruise to a 25-14 win.
The Cajuns responded with another 25-17 win in the fourth set to extend the match, hitting a match-high .385 after being down 2-1 for the first time this season. USA got as close as one point midway through the set before a service error sparked a 6-1 run that stretched the lead to a comfortable margin at 21-15. A pair of Jaguar misfires gave the Cajuns a set-point try, one that they cashed in on with a kill from Gardner on their first opportunity.
But the fifth set saw South Alabama get out to a quick 9-6 lead before kills from Filce and Kaylee Nemeth – who finished with nine kills on the night – pulled UL to within a point at 10-9. USA then came out of a timeout by scoring four of the next five points to get to its first match-point try at 14-10; however, a kill from Reilly kept the Cajuns alive. UL then forced three consecutive Jaguar errors to tie things up at 14-14; however, the Jaguars then turned to Lewis for the go-ahead kill and Daniel for the match-winner.
The Cajuns now go on the road for a pair of weekend tilts, beginning Friday at UALR and concluding Sunday at UT Arlington.
Dominant Third Set Leads UALR Volleyball to Sweep of ULM
LITTLE ROCK – UALR seized its first conference win of the year with a dominant sweep over ULM (25-22, 25-18, 25-6) at the Jack Stephens Center on Wednesday night.
The highlight of the match for the Trojans (7-4, 1-0 Sun Belt Conference) was their near-historic third set, the second-best set win in program history.
UALR started the set by going up 5-0, all on ULM errors. After ULM’s third point of the set, UALR scored five straight points to improve its lead to 16-3. At this point, the set and match were all-but decided as the Trojans continued on a 9-3 run to clinch the match.
The set came three years to the day after the Trojans’ biggest-ever margin of victory in a set. On Sept. 17, 2011, UALR got a 25-3 third- set win in a sweep of Texas Southern.
Senior Edina Begic led the Trojans on Wednesday with a double-double performance of 15 kills and 10 digs. Her double-double marks her third of the season. She now has 140 kills on the year.
Junior Sonja Milanovic recorded her 100th kill of the season in the second set and would end the match with six kills and 12 digs.
Redshirt sophomore Carolee Dillard would add another four blocks in the contest to extend her season total to 55. Along with Dillard, senior Adisa Hodzic also contributed four blocks. The two would combine to block eight of the Trojans’ 10 total blocks.
Senior Capri Rino led the UALR in digs by scooping up 14 of the team’s 49.
Sophomore setter Megan Mathis helped the Trojans’ offense by adding 30 assists, marking the fifth time this season she has had at least 30 in a match.
The second set of the night was back and forth until the teams were tied at 13-13. UALR would slowly extend its lead from there and pull away due in large part to six ULM errors. The Trojans ended the set by scoring five straight points to seal the second frame.
The first set was as close as ULM would get to claiming a set from UALR as the Warhawks went up 8-5. That would prove to be their largest lead of the match. With the Warhawks up later in the set at 20-18, UALR would go on tear by scoring six straight points, giving the Trojans a 24-20 advantage. After a timeout by ULM, the Warhawks scored two more points before finally being put away by Begic’s eighth kill of the set.
UALR returns to action at home on Friday (Sept. 19) at 7 p.m. to face Louisiana (10-1) in each team’s second conference match of the season. Louisiana enters the contest after its first loss of the season to visiting conference opponent South Alabama in five sets on Wednesday night.
ULM Topped by UALR in Conference Opener
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- For only the second time in their past six matches, the ULM volleyball team was unable to come out on top as the Warhawks dropped their conference opener, 3-0 (25-22, 25-18, 25-6), to UALR on the road at the Jack Stephens Center in Little Rock, Ark.
Sophomore Hadley Swartz led the way for ULM (6-8, 0-1 Sun Belt) with six kills and three digs. Outside hitter Hope Pawlik added four more kills to her already team-high 113 kills on the season.
Freshman Jennifer McClendon finished with three blocks and five kills on only 14 swings (.214), while sophomore transfer Taylor Zaeske contributed with five kills, four digs and one service ace.
Senior captain Marcela Araya registered 14 digs to surpass double-digit digs for the 13th time this season. Bayleigh Hoffman assisted on 13 of the team’s 23 kills during the night.
In a back-and-forth first set, ULM forced 10 tie scores and six lead changes in a battle to the end that UALR’s Edina Selimovic clinched with a kill to give the Trojans (7-4, 1-0 Sun Belt) the first stanza, 25-22.
The two squads would trade points early in the next set before UALR pulled away and put the match to rest. The defeat moves the Warhawks to 6-8 overall and 0-1 in the Sun Belt.
The Warhawks return to the Fant Ewing Coliseum for a pair of home conference matches this weekend. ULM will battle it out versus Georgia State (2-8, 0-1 Sun Belt) on Friday (7 p.m.) before taking on Texas State (6-7, 1-0 Sun Belt) Sunday that is set for a 1 p.m. serve.