Troy University Athletics
Troy University
11-19, 6-10
UT Arlington
15-14, 8-8
Trojans Take Five-Set Thriller on Senior Night
11/9/2013 10:12:00 PM | Volleyball
Box Score
TROY, Ala. – Trailing 2-1, the Troy volleyball team dominated the fourth set and captured a thrilling fifth set over UT Arlington to make Alexandra Alexander and Courtney Cohen victorious on Senior Night, 3-2 (25-17, 13-25, 24-26, 25-17, 15-13).
The win snapped a streak of six straight losses in fifth sets for Troy (11-19, 6-10). The win also keeps Troy in eighth place in the Sun Belt standings, ahead of ninth place Georgia State by two games in the win column.
"It was a great win on Senior Night and I couldn't be more proud of our seniors and the whole team.," Troy head coach Sonny Kirkpatrick said. "It took a lot of heart to come back and fight like they did. I'm really glad a five set match went our way."
Alexander and Cohen, Troy's two seniors, played well in their final regular-season home matches.Â
Cohen posted a match-high 31 digs, the sixth 30-plus dig performance of her career. It also puts Cohen at 1,999 career digs, just one shy of becoming the sixth player in Sun Belt history with 2,000 career digs.
Alexander recorded a double-double with 45 assists and 15 digs, her 21st of the season. Kelley Curran was also in double figures with 11 digs.
Offensively, Marija Zelenovic's 18 kills paced the Trojans while Blair Winston (15) and Kayla Pickart (13) where also in double figures. Troy hit .131, just under UT Arlington's .139 attack percentage.
UT Arlington (15-14, 8-8) posted 16.5 total blocks, led by Charmaine Whitmore's 10. Troy had 8.0 total blocks, led by Darby Griff's five.
After each team picked up fairly dominant wins in the first (Troy) and second (UT Arlington) sets, the third set was the tightest of the match. The swing set was tied 13 times, including as late as 24-24 after Troy had fought off three set points. However, at that time the Mavericks won two straight to take the 26-24 win.
Troy immediately bounced back and used a 9-0 run to take a 20-10 lead in the fourth set on its way to a 25-17 win in which the Trojans held UTA to a -.024 attack percentage.
In the fifth set, the Mavericks opened up a 6-3 lead before Troy scored five straight to take an 8-6 lead. UTA rallied and took a 12-11 lead, but Troy got two kills from Pickart and UTA had two attack errors from Shelby Dickson to give Troy the 15-13 win.
Troy held Dickson, the Maverick's leading attacker, to a -.136 attack percentage with six kills and 12 attack errors on a team-high 44 attempts.
Troy returns to the court on Friday with a match at Georgia State. A win over the Panthers would assure Troy a spot in the Sun Belt Championships, which are being played at Trojan Arena in less than two weeks.
