Troy Earns Win In Tournament Opener

Friday, September 10

Jacksonville, FL

3:00 p.m.

Troy University

Charleston Southern University

9/10/2010 4:54:59 PM | Volleyball

The Trojans return to the court later Friday night

By: Brynna Waters

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - The Troy Trojan volleyball team earned their third victory in five matches, defeating the Buccaneers of Charleston Southern 3-0 (25-22, 28-26, 25-17) in the first match of the Best Western Invitational Friday.

Troy (4-5) was led by sophomore Devin Von Pingel who had 14 kills and a .379 attack percentage, while sophomore Kayla Giles recorded 10 kills and 11 digs for the Trojans. Senior setter Megan Henderson added 36 assists and four digs on the day.

In the first set, the Trojans fell behind early, but came back to tie the set at 4-all. It was a battle for points then as the set was tied three more times, and at 13-all, the Trojans began to pull away with kills from Von Pingel and Giles from Henderson. The Buccaneers came back to within one of the Trojans at 21-20, but kills from juniors Brittany McClelland and Natasha Kolunija pushed the Trojans to victory.

The second set was tied eight times before Troy fell behind at 13-all. A service ace by Giles, with the Trojans trailing 19-14 brought the Trojans back to life. Kills from Henderson, Von Pingel and Giles brought the Trojans to another tie, 21-all. The two teams tied the match five more times, before a set of kills by Von Pingel and Kolunija gave Troy the victory, putting them up by two going into intermission.

In the third set, Troy and Charleston Southern fought for every point and tied twice before Troy was able to pull away after being tied at 12-all, with a pair of kills from Von Pingel and a pair of service aces from sophomore Caroline Alexander. The Buccaneers rallied and came within three of Troy at 17-14, but kills from Giles, Von Pingel and McClelland put an end to the rally and gave the Trojans the match.

Troy will play again tonight at 7 p.m. when they play tournament host, North Florida. Become a fan of Troy Athletics on Facebook and follow all the Troy action on Twitter by following @TroyAthletics