Troy Hosts Georgia Southern in Conference Opener

TROY, Alabama - The Troy volleyball team will open its Sun Belt Conference schedule on Wednesday when league newcomer Georgia Southern visits Trojan Arena for a 7 p.m. match.

Live stats and live video can be found at TroyTrojans.com. For live, in-game updates fans can follow @TroyTrojansVB on Twitter.

Troy (8-4) has lost three straight matches after an 0-3 weekend at the Active Ankle Challenge. The Trojans fell to tournament host Auburn as well as South Florida and Winthrop. Prior to that, Troy had won five straight matches and were off to an 8-1 start, the best start in the program's Division I era (1993-present).

The Trojans are led offensively by Blair Winston who is averaging 3.12 kills/set. The junior outside hitter has posted double-digit kills in all but three matches she has played in this season. Fellow junior Darby Griff was selected to the all-tournament team last weekend after averaging a team-best 2.82 kills/set at the Active Ankle Challenge.

Tineille Waggoner is averaging 9.49 assists/set for Troy, the fourth best mark in the Sun Belt as the Trojans are hitting .227 as a team and holding opponents to a .185 attack percentage.

Defensively, Troy is near the top of the Sun Belt at 2.17 blocks/set with Griff (0.95 b/s) and Kiah Cheatham (0.84 b/s) leading the way. Ali Dowdall leads the Trojans with a 3.70 digs/set average.

Georgia Southern (0-9) played arguably the toughest non-conference in the Sun Belt, with three of its nine losses coming to top-25 teams (No. 10 Florida, No. 17 North Caroline, No. 16 Kentucky). In addition to those three matches, the Eagles played three more against "power" conference teams (Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Colorado).

The Eagles, who won the Southern Conference last season and played in the NCAA Tournament, will be playing their first Sun Belt match after joining the league in July.

Troy is 1-3 all-time against Georgia Southern, but 1-0 at home. That win came last season when the Trojans swept the Eagles on Labor Day is Troy's first match inside Trojan Arena. Troy enters Wednesday's contest with a 4-0 home record this season.

For more information on Troy Athletics, visit TroyTrojans.com. Fans can also find Troy on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube by searching for Troy Athletics.

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Players Mentioned

Ali Dowdall

Darby Griff

Blair Winston