Troy University Athletics
Trojans Lose Heartbreaker At Home
10/3/2008 5:00:00 AM | Volleyball
TROY, Ala. - The Troy Trojans battled the UALR Trojans to the final point, but fell to the visitors at Trojan Arena 3-2 in conference action Friday night.
A trio of UALR Trojans led the way offensively in double figures in kills to give the visitors a 25-20, 23-25, 26-24, 16-25, 15-5 victory over Troy.
"The effort and focus was there tonight which is something we haven't always seen," Trojans coach Sonny Kirkpatrick. "We kind of gave set three away which was the difference in the match. I am proud of the way they battled and played, and we need to do it the same way in order to compete against a good Arkansas State team on Saturday."
Amila Barakovic led UALR with 18 kills, while Anita Bucur added 16 and Lora Dickey 11 in the victory. For Troy, Meghan Gilroy and Aubre Smith teamed to record 14 kills each, while Laura Mackley added 13 in the loss. Sophomore Megan Henderson recorded 49 assists and 10 total digs in the loss for Troy.
After losing the first set 25-20, Troy jumped ahead by as many as five points in the early stages of the second set at 12-7. UALR came back to tie the score at 14-all, and the two teams traded points until Troy was able to take a 22-20 lead late on a kill by Brittany McClelland. The lead was trimmed to 22-21, but a kill from Gilroy put the Trojans up 23-21, and another kill from the junior gave Troy a 24-22 lead in the second set. Troy was able to put the set away on kill from Gilroy to take a 25-22 victory.
The Trojans of UALR (15-2, 4-0 Sun Belt) won the third set out of the locker room to take a 2-1 lead, and put the pressure back on Troy (9-9, 0-3 Sun Belt) in the fourth set.
Troy responded in the fourth set to force a fifth and deciding set, when they jumped to an eight-point lead late after the match was tied at 10-all. A kill by Mackley gave the Trojans the lead for good at 12-11. From there, an ace by Henderson kept the rally going, and it didn't end until the Trojans grabbed a 21-13 lead on a kill by Kerry Heinz. After a point by UALR trimmed the lead to 21-14, the visiting Trojans kept battling to force the deficit to be trimmed to 22-16. However, Troy responded to take a 23-16 lead on a block by Heinz and Henderson. After a pair of attack errors, the Troy Trojans were able to grab a 25-16 victory in the fourth set.
The fifth set started off well for Troy as they grabbed the early 3-2 lead on a kill by Mackley, but from there UALR went on a 13-2 run to take a fifth-set victory and win the match.
Troy returns to action Saturday afternoon, hosting Arkansas State at Trojan Arena. The match begins at 1 pm and admission is free.
