Trojans Get 20th Win in Regular Season Finale

Saturday, November 10

Boca Raton, Fla.

5:30 p.m.

Troy University

Florida Atlantic

Photo by: Cass Davis

Trojans Get 20th Win in Regular Season Finale

11/10/2012 7:46:00 PM | Volleyball

By: Matt Mays

Box Score

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Troy volleyball team dominated Florida Atlantic on the road Saturday, sweeping the Owls 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-10), to get the Trojans their 20th win of the season in the regular season finale.

“I'm proud of the way we bounced back after how poorly we played last night,” Troy head coach Sonny Kirkpatrick said. “We accomplished some goals that we set in the preseason and I'm proud of the way we pulled together.”

The Trojans (20-11, 10-5) set a school record for Sun Belt wins and picked up their first 20-win season in 10 years. The Trojans are now guaranteed at least a third place finish in the Sun Belt standings.

However, Troy could move up to second with a North Texas win over UALR on Sunday. The Mean Green and Trojans play at 1 p.m. in Denton, Texas on Sunday.

Troy was led against Florida Atlantic by Blair Winston who shook off a rough outing on Friday night with 12 kills and no errors for a .571 attack percentage on Saturday.

Kayla Pickart had eight kills and just two errors for a .353 attack percentage as Troy hit .322 as a team while holding the Owls to a .047 mark.

Courtney Cohen had a match-high 12 digs while Alexandra Alexander posted 32 assists and 10 digs for her 20th double-double of the season. Mailande Parker was also in double figures with 10 digs.

Breanna Cullity led Troy with six blocks, giving her 124 on the season, the third most in a single-season in Troy history. Devin Von Pingel had two total blocks to up her career total 296, three shy of the Troy career record.

Florida Atlantic (7-19, 2-13) had two players with six kills to lead their squad while Jelena Jovanovic posted 21 assists.

“Now we need to clean up some of our poor play from the last couple of weeks and keep focused and keep our eye on big prize which is winning a conference tournament,” Kirkpatrick said.

The Sun Belt Conference Championships begin on Thursday in Bowling Green, Ky. Troy will make an appearance in the tournament for the second straight season, another program first.

Be sure to check with TroyTrojans.com on Sunday for the Trojans final seeding, opponent and opening round game time. Fans can also find Troy on Twitter at @TroyAthletics or on Facebook at Facebook.com/TroyAthletics.