Henderson And Rogoschewsky Honored Saturday Night

Saturday, October 30

Troy, AL

7:00 p.m.

Troy University

Florida International University

Photo by: Troy University

Henderson And Rogoschewsky Honored Saturday Night

10/30/2010 9:01:52 PM | Volleyball

Trojans fall to FIU, have work cut out to make Sun Belt Conference Tournament

By: Travis Jarome

Box Score

TROY, Ala. – With five matches left in the season after Saturday night, the Troy University Trojans found themselves honoring their seniors in Sartain Hall prior to the match against the Golden Panthers of FIU. However, the Trojans fell short in their final home contest of 2010, falling to FIU 3-0 (25-19, 25-23, 25-22) in Sun Belt Conference action Saturday night.

The Trojans honored Megan Henderson and Victoria Rogoschewsky prior to the match, and the duo responded with key plays throughout the match. Henderson finished the match with 21 assists and nine digs, while Rogoschewsky picked up two kills and a block for the Trojans.

Troy (10-18, 2-9 Sun Belt) was led by Natasha Kolunija with 11 kills, five digs and three blocks; while Devin Von Pingel added 10 kills on the night. Defensively, Courtney Cohen led the way with 14 digs, while Kayla Giles added eight in the loss.

“We competed against one of the best teams in the conference tonight and we played fairly well,” head coach Sonny Kirkpatrick said. “We need to continue to get better for the match Tuesday on the road against South Alabama. We have our work cut out for us to finish the season well, but we can do it if we continue to work hard.”

The match was tight all the way through, as the teams found themselves tied in each set until FIU was able to pull away near the end to record the victory. The Golden Panthers were led on the night by Jovana Bjelica with 20 kills, while Andrea Lakovic added 14 kills and Natalia Valentin with 48 assists.

In the opening set, the Trojans fell behind early but were able to come back and tie the set at 13-all before FIU went on 6-2 run to open their biggest lead of the set at 19-15. The Trojans clawed their way back into the set but were unable to get any closer than four as FIU pulled away for the opening set victory, 25-19.

The second set was the other way around as Troy built an early lead behind a trio of kills from Von Pingel, building an 11-8 lead. The lead would grow to four, at 12-8, when Giles connected on one of her two kills on the night. However, FIU battled back and tied the match at 17-all; before going on a 4-0 run to take a 21-17 lead. The Trojans battled back to within 22-20 on a pair of blocks by Brittany McClelland (with assists to Kolunija and Henderson). The Trojans fell behind by three at 24-21, before battling back to within one at 24-23 on a kill from Kolunija and a block by McClelland and Rogoschewsky. However, FIU was able to put the set away on the next point and took a 2-0 lead into intermission.

In the third and final set, the Trojans fell behind early – by as many as four – before they were able to chip away at the lead and get to within one at 15-14. Although they were unable to get the lead in that set, the Trojans battled to stay within two and closed the gap late. Trailing 24-20, the Trojans used a kill from Kolunija and an attack error by FIU to get to within 24-22; before FIU put the match away on a kill from Lakovic.

The Trojans return to action on Tuesday on the road against the University of South Alabama.

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