Trojans Drop Five-Set Thriller

Saturday, September 15

Montgomery, Ala.

9:00 a.m.

Troy University

Maryland - Eastern Shore

Photo by: Tyler Myers

9/15/2012 12:39:00 PM | Volleyball

By: Matt Mays

Box Score

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Troy volleyball team closed its portion of the ASU Invitational on Saturday with a five-set loss to Maryland-Eastern Shore, 3-2 (25-12, 20-25, 26-28, 25-18, 15-9).

The Trojans (8-6) hit just .079 on the day, but used a season-high 14.0 team total blocks to push the defending MEAC champion Hawks (13-1) to the brink.

Breanna Cullity set a school record with 12 total blocks thanks to one solo block and 11 block assists. Troy held UMES, an NCAA Tournament team from a year ago, to just a .134 attack percentage thanks in large part to three players with double-figure digs.

Courtney Cohen led the way with 17 digs while Alexandra Alexander and Blair Winston each posted 13.

Offensively, Devin Von Pingel led the way for Troy with nine kills and just two errors, followed by Cullity and Kayla Pickart who each posted eight kills.

Maryland-Eastern Shore was led by Victoria Williams with 18 kills while five different players posted double-figure digs.

The Trojans came out of the gate slow with a 9 a.m. start time as they hit -.161 in the opening set and were never really in a 25-12 opening frame loss. However, they responded in the second set, posting a match-high .217 attack percentage to take a 25-20 win.

The third set was tight throughout, but Troy picked up its match-high 13 kills and edged out a 28-26 victory to take a 2-1 lead.

With a chance to close out the match, the Trojans fell into an early hole in the fourth set as UMES got out to a 6-1 lead on their way to a 25-18 fourth-set win.

With the early score at 2-2 in the deciding fifth set, the Hawks went on a three-point run to take a 5-2 and Troy couldn't pull back even, dropping the fifth set 15-9.

Troy returns to the floor on Tuesday when they host Florida A&M at Sartain Hall. The Trojans and Rattlers are set for a first serve at 6 p.m. with admission being FREE.

For more information on Troy Athletics, be sure to visit TroyTrojans.com. Fans can also find Troy on Twitter at @TroyAthletics or on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TroyAthletics.