Troy University Athletics
Troy University
2-3
Green Bay
2-2
Troy Volleyball Splits Two Tight Matches to Open Tournament
9/5/2013 7:41:00 PM | Volleyball
Match One Box Score | Match Two Box Score
AUBURN, Ala. – The Troy volleyball team played two very close matches on Thursday to open the Active Ankle Challenge hosted by Auburn. The Trojans first fell to Green Bay, 3-1 (20-25, 31-29, 25-23, 25-19), before rebounding to beat Mercer, 3-2 (18-25, 25-18, 25-17, 22-25, 15-8).
Freshman Kiah Cheatham and sophomore Darby Griff were very efficient for the Trojans (3-3) offensively. In nine sets of play, Cheatham had 24 kills to just four errors while Griff posted 21 kills with just three errors.
Both Cheatham and Griff set career highs for kills in the Trojans' first match, then topped those marks in Troy's second match.
Courtney Cohen posted 41 digs on the day, bringing her season total to 115 and her career total to 1,634 digs. The senior libero is now just 95 digs away from becoming Troy's all-time career leader.
The Trojans close the Active Ankle Challenge when they play host Auburn at 7 p.m. on Friday.Â
For more information on Troy Athletics, visit TroyTrojans.com. Fans can also find Troy on Twitter and Instagram at @TroyAthletics and on Facebook at Facebook.com/TroyAthletics.
Green Bay 3, Troy 1
The Trojans opened the tournament with a tight, 3-1 (20-25, 31-29, 25-23, 25-19), loss to Green Bay. The loss kept Troy from a third straight win and gave Green Bay its second straight after two five-set losses to open the season, one to No.23 Ohio State.
"Overall I'm disappointed that we didn't go 2-0 today," Troy head coach Sonny Kirkpatrick said. "We had opportunities to take a commanding lead against Green Bay, but to their credit, they made plays when they needed them to extend the match."
Marija Zelenovic led the Trojans with a season-high 19 kills. However, the junior had eight errors and hit just .183 for a Troy team that hit .216 as a team.
Cheatham and Griff each posted then career highs with 12 and nine kills, respectively. Each had just one error as Cheatham hit .344 and Griff hit .444 in the match.
Cohen posted 19 digs to lead three Trojans in double figures. Kelley Curran posted 15 digs while Alexandra Alexander posted 12 to go along with 41 assists for a double-double.
After hitting .297 in a first-set victory, the Trojans had chances to put away the second set with four set points. However, with Troy leading 29-28, Green Bay (2-2) rattled off three straight points, two from Trojan errors, to win a 31-29 second set.
The Phoenix came out of the break and hit .318 and .250 in the third and fourth sets, respectively to take the match. Leah Van Zeeland led the Phoenix with 20 kills and a .326 attack percentage. Green Bay setter Emily Riese posted 55 assists.
Troy 3, Mercer 2
Troy played its second five-set match of the season in its second match of the day and defeated Mercer, 3-2 (18-25, 25-18, 25-17, 22-25, 15-8), to even its record at the Active Ankle Challenge.
Troy flipped the script from its first five-set match. The Trojans lost that one to Stephen F. Austin after trailing 5-0 early in the fifth set. On Thursday, Troy took a 4-1 lead over Mercer in the fifth set, and cruised to the win.
"Mercer gave us everything we could handle," Kirkpatrick said. "We had to change things around a little in the beginning, and I'm proud of the girls for finishing the match the way they did."
The Trojans used defense to beat the Bears, holding Mercer (1-4) to a .127 attack percentage as a team, including a -.107 mark in the final set. Troy put down a season-high 13.0 total blocks in the match, including seven from Cheatham.
Cheatham and Griff each posted 12 kills and hit .391 and .333, respectively, in the match. Kayla Pickart led the way with 13 kills.
Alexandra Alexander posted a double-double with 28 assists and 20 digs while Zelenovic also had a double-double with 10 kills and 16 digs. Bruna Souza played in all five sets and added 14 assists.
Cohen led the way with 22 digs as three Trojans topped the 15-dig mark.
Troy hit .194 in the match, with a match-high .324 mark in the fourth set, a set the Trojans narrowly lost as Mercer posted 19 kills to just four errors in the frame.
Caroline Carlton led Mercer with a match-high 20 kills while Molly Locke and Emily Rochefort each posted 24 digs. Carly Iannarino recorded 55 assists for the Bears.
