Troy University Athletics
Trojans Ready for Home Opener
9/24/2009 6:15:00 PM | Volleyball
TROY, Ala. - The Trojan volleyball team will finally get a chance to play in front of their home crowd at Trojan Arena on Friday night.
The Trojans have opened up the 2009 season with 11 straight road matches, but they will see a lot of Trojan Arena in the next few days. Troy will host Florida International on Friday at 7 p.m. and Florida Atlantic at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
The weekend also marks the Trojans' first conference matches of the season. FIU (10-2, 0-0) is the defending regular season champion and they have the Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year. The Owls of FAU (2-7, 1-0) finished one game ahead of the Trojans in the East Division standings last season.
"Our conference is very special because anybody can beat anybody on any night," said head coach Sonny Kirkpatrick, "we're very excited to get into our conference schedule, especially at home."
The Trojans are led this season by senior middle hitter Meghan Gilroy. The Pensacola, Fla. native has spiked down 135 kills thus far. She ranks second in the Sun Belt in both attack percentage (.371) and kills per set (4.35). Megan Henderson is setting up the Trojans attackers with 372 assists.
Defensively, Henderson and freshman Lizzie Clough have posted triple digits in digs, 100 and 103 respectively. Another true freshman, Devin Von Pingel, leads the squad with 32 blocks.
Troy is coming off of a ten day break. They last played a match on September 15 at Jacksonville State. The Trojans fell to the Gamecocks in that match, 3-0.
"The time off has given us a chance to get focused," Kirkpatrick said, "we've been able to reflect on what we've done thus far and what we still have left to do."
As for the Golden Panthers, The 2008 regular season Sun Belt Champions currently hold the best record in the conference at 10-2. The Golden Panthers only two losses came to Top 25 teams in Kentucky and Florida State. FIU swept through the Raddison-UCF Classic last weekend. They defeated Florida A&M, Southern Miss and UCF without dropping a set.
Reigning Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and 2009 Preseason Palyer of the Year, Yarimir Rosa has only played in one match, posting 17 kills against Miami.
The Golden Panthers are lead offensively by Olga Vergun who has 160 kills and a .249 attack percentage in 41 sets. Last seasons Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year, Isadora Rangel has also posted over 100 kills with 113. Junior setter Natalia Valentin, a 2008 second-team All-Sun Belt performer, leads the conference with 11.71 assists per set. She has 480 total assists. Chanel Araujo leads the Golden Panthers with 169 digs, averaging 4.12 per set.
The Golden Panthers lead the all-time series over the Trojans, 7-0. FIU won both meetings in 2008 by a score of 3-0.
The Owls participated in the Warhawk Bayou Showdown last weekend, going 2-1, including a win over Sun Belt foe ULM. The two wins were the Owls first of the season. Prior to last weekend, FAU had lost six straight. The Owls other win came against Jackson State.
Florida Atlantic is lead offensively by Krystena Castro who has posted 62 kills and a .297 attack percentage. She has also posted a team high 23 blocks. Defensively, freshman Cintia Nightingale paces the Owls with 105 digs, a 3.39 per set average.
The Owls lead the all-time series between the two schools, 12-4. The Trojans and Owls split their two meetings last season. The Owls won, 3-1, at FAU Gynasium on September 26 and the Trojans defeated the Owls, 3-0, at Trojan Arena on October 17.
Admission to all home volleyball matches is free. For those that can't make to Trojan Arena, live stats and a live webcasts can be seen at the links above. Check back with TroyTrojans.com for more news and notes from the volleyball court, as well as all of Troy Athletics.
