Trojans Coming Home with a Win

Sunday, September 18

Jacksonville, Fla.

5:00 p.m. (est)

Troy University

Jacksonville University

9/18/2011 8:14:00 PM | Volleyball

By: Matt Mays

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Troy University volleyball team passed its final non-conference road test on Sunday as the Trojans traveled to Jacksonville and downed the Dolphins in straight-sets.

“We played pretty well tonight,” head coach Sonny Kirkpatrick said. “We're continuing to get better as we get closer to conference play.”

The Trojans (9-4) now return home for a three-game homestand that begins with the final non-conference match of the season on Tuesday when Mercer visits Sartain Hall at 6:00 p.m. The Trojans will open Sun Belt play with home matches on Friday and Sunday.

“We've got a difficult challenge on Tuesday with Mercer,” Kirkpatrick said. “We've seemed to right the ship, and we're moving in the right direction.”

Check back with TroyTrojans.com for results and recaps from the court as well as all of Troy Athletics. Fans can also find Troy on Twitter @TroyAthletics or on Facebook.

TROY 3, JACKSONVILLE 0 (25-21, 25-20, 26-24)

A familiar faced paced the Trojans offensive attacked as Natasha Kolunija posted a team-high 17 kills, following a 20-kill performance in Troy's win last Tuesday. Kayla Pickart also posted double-digits as she recorded 10 kills on the day.

The Trojans hit .279 as a team on the day while Jacksonville (7-8) hit .242. Kolunija hit just four errors to go along with her 17 kills for a .351 individual attack percentage.

Courtney Cohen recorded a team-high 19 digs, extending her streak of matches with at least 15 digs to 12. Troy is 9-3 in those contests. Alexandra Alexander posted a double-double as she finished second on the team with 13 digs to go along with her 40 assists. Kolunija also posted a double-double as she added 10 digs to her kill total.

The Trojans jumped out to an early lead the first frame as they found themselves up 9-4. The Dolphins would get to as close as two points at 13-11, but the Trojans put down 16 kills in the first frame as they marched to a 25-21 win.

Troy was nearly perfect in the second set as they posted just one error and hit .333. JU meanwhile posted their worst attack percentage at .214, but the two sides did find themselves tied eight times in the frame. The latest tie came at 12-12, but Troy pulled ahead from that point, going up as much as six at 20-14 before taking the set, 25-20.

The third set proved the toughest test for the Trojans as two sides found themselves six times and Troy posted its worst single-set attack percentage of the match at .250. Jacksonville actually out-hit Troy in the set, .268, but the Trojans took the clinching set, 26-24.