Trojans Finish Runner-up At Owl Invitational, Pair Honored For Play

Saturday, September 18

Kennesaw, GA

5:00 p.m.

Troy University

Presbyterian College

Trojans Finish Runner-up At Owl Invitational, Pair Honored For Play

9/18/2010 10:29:54 PM | Volleyball

Troy defeated Presbyterian on the final day with Henderson and Kolunija earning All-Tournament

By: Travis Jarome

Box Score

KENNESAW, Ga. - The Troy University volleyball bounced back from their morning match in the Owl Invitational, defeating a stubborn Presbyterian College 3-1 (25-19, 26-28, 25-17, 25-22) to finish as the runner-up in the tournament.

The Trojans stuffed the stat sheet in a many different categories on Saturday afternoon, settling in for conference play which begins next week. Offensively, Brittany McClelland led the way with 13 kills, while Natasha Kolunija added nine kills and Victoria Rogoschewsky eight. Senior Megan Henderson led the way offensively with 38 assists.

Defensively, the Trojans stifled Presbyterian for much of the night as Courtney Cohen led the way with 19 digs, while Kayla Giles added 16 in the victory. At the net, Giles and Devin Von Pingel each recorded five block assists, while Kolunija added four for the Trojans.

All-in-all, a much better performance in the final match of the day as compared to the morning match for the Trojans, a fact which did not go unnoticed by the coaching staff.

"We played better in the afternoon match than we did in the morning," head coach Sonny Kirkpatrick said. "We still have some things we will need to work on before this upcoming weekend, but we are excited to begin conference play."

In the afternoon match, the Trojans did not take control of the opening set until a service error by Presbyterian opened the door and gave Troy a 17-16 lead. From there, the Trojans took control as they opened the advantage up to 23-18 in the first set off the service of Henderson. Leading 20-18, Giles recorded a kill for the three-point advantage, followed by a kill from Rogoschewsky and a block from Kolunija and Von Pingel to extend the lead to 23-18; the biggest of the opening set for either team.

The Trojans put the opening set away on back-to-back kills from Kolunija and Von Pingel for the 1-0 lead.

However, Presbyterian did not go away in the second set as they held the lead for the first 47 points of the set. Trailing 24-23 in the set, the Trojans battled back on match point to tie the set on a kill from Henderson, and actually held a set point at 26-25 on a kill from McClelland. Presbyterian came back and scored three of the next four points to capture the set, heading to the locker room tied at 1-all.

In the third set, the Trojans fell behind again until the midway point of the set on an attack error by Presbyterian. Following the error, the Trojans took the lead for good on a kill from Giles and pushed the lead to four, 20-16, on a kill from McClelland that prompted a Blue Hose timeout. After the timeout, the Trojans scored five of the next six points to put the set away and take a 2-1 overall lead in the match.

Needing just one more set for the match victory, the Trojans waited until the 36th point of the set to make their move. Trailing 18-17, McClelland recorded a kill to tie the set at 18-all; which was followed by a the two teams trading points for a 19-all score. With the match tied, the Trojans got a kill from Rogoschewsky to take the lead for good at 20-19 and put the set away on a service ace from McClelland for a 21-19 lead. The Trojans scored five of the next eight points for the victory.

For their efforts in the three matches, Henderson and Kolunija were named All-Tournament. The Trojans return to action next weekend on the road as they take on Louisiana-Lafayette and ULM to open conference play.

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