Troy University Athletics
Troy Splits on Saturday
9/16/2006 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Troy played two five game matches on Saturday, defeating UCF to begin the day and then fell to Southern Miss to end it.
Troy (5-10) defeated UCF (4-7) by scores of 28-30, 33-31, 30-27, 30-32 and 15-9. Then the Trojans fell to Southern Miss (7-7) by scores of 20-30, 18-30, 30-22, 30-15 and 12-15.
Freshman Liz Leeds and sophomore Aubre Smith led the Trojans against Southern Miss recording 18 and 13 kills respectively. Leeds also had nine digs to help the Trojans defensively.
Sophomore Meghan Washlow also guided the Trojans offensively as she had 50 assists. Washlow also had 12 digs to help out on defense.
Junior Carla Rasuck helped the Trojans in a big way defensively as she had 20 digs.
Troy started game one with the Lady Golden Eagles down 4-1 but came back to even the score and keep it close, 6-4. Troy then lost momentum, allowing Southern Miss to pull away, 15-7. Southern Miss continued to pull away extending its lead to 11, 23-12. Troy then went on an eight-to-three run, 26-19 but the late effort was not enough as it fell 30-20.
Southern Miss jumped out to an early 10-4 to start game two. Troy could not gain any momentum as Southern Miss extended its lead to 11, 18-7.
Troy jumped out to an early 7-1 lead to begin game three with the lady Golden Eagles. Southern Miss then caught up to the Trojans tying the game at 14. Troy continued to fight and after trading points pulled ahead with the lead, 24-19.
Forcing a fourth game, Troy continued the momentum and traded points with Southern Miss before pulling away, 15-8. Troy extended its lead to 12, 27-15 to extend the match to five games.
In game five, Southern Miss led at the eight point break, 8-4. Troy then gained the momentum and tied the game at 12. Sophomore Jean McCarthy recorded 21 kills to help lead the Trojans to a win over UCF.
McCarthy also had 13 digs and two service aces in the win. Leeds had 18 kills and Smith notched 17 to add to Troy's offense in the match.
It was important for us to come out and get over not playing really well yesterday. We came out focused made a nice effort on defense and that translated into us being able to win this match,” head coach Sonny Kirkpartick said.
Defensively, Leeds had 16 digs and three blocks, while Rasuck added 18 to help Troy pull out the win.
As a team, Troy recorded 82 kills, 71 digs and ten blocks. Washlow had 68 assists and added six digs, two aces and seven digs to add help in the Trojans' win.
I am proud of the effort that our team gave and hope that this win will help us continue our momentum as we go forward in our season,” Kirkpatrick said.
Troy started its match with the Golden Knights off better than it had played all day on Friday jumping out to a 3-0 lead early and holding UCF to just three points in the first ten played, 7-3. UCF closed the gap, taking the lead late, 22-21 but Troy continued to fight and reclaimed the lead 26-24. Try as they might the Trojans were unable to hang onto their late lead falling, 30-28.
Troy and UCF started game two by trading points with neither taking a significant lead until UCF gained a three-point lead late, 19-16. The Trojans continued to battle and kept the score close tying it at 28 again. Troy and UCF once again traded points this time with Troy ending up on top, 33-31.
After winning game two, Troy started the third game strong jumping out to an early 9-5 lead. Troy continued to pull away going on a five-to-two-point run and extending its lead, 13-7. The Trojans maintained a large lead but the Golden Knights battled back from a seven-point deficit to a one-point deficit, 21-20.
Game four started just as the other three had with Troy and UCF trading points tying the game at ten. Down 20-26, Troy battled back to within three, 26-23, but could not hold on falling, 32-30.
With UCF forcing the fifth game, Troy jumped out 7-0 and allowed only three points at the eight-point break. Troy continued to dominate holding UCF to just nine points to clinch the win.
The Trojans will travel to Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday for its match-up with Alabama State at 7 p.m. Troy will then have a few days off before traveling to Bowling Green, Ky., to open conference play with Western Kentucky on Friday Sept. 22. The Trojans will also play Middle Tennessee on Saturday Sept. 23 on the opening weekend of conference play.
