Troy Volleyball Falls in Five-Set Season Opener

Friday, August 25

Columbia, S.C.

3:30 P.M.

Troy University

0-1

North Florida

1-0

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Troy	19	26	25	23	6	2
North Florida	25	24	21	25	15	3

Photo by: Chris Davis

Troy Volleyball Falls in Five-Set Season Opener

8/25/2017 7:00:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Grace Bolin

COLUMBIA, South Carolina- After falling behind in set one, the Trojans (0-1) bounced back to take two in a row from North Florida (1-0), but a late rally from the Ospreys forced a fifth set as the Trojans were narrowly defeated 3-2 in game one of the Gamecock Invitational hosted by South Carolina.

Troy kept the first set close as it continued to find answers to the Ospreys' offense. The Trojans took a 13-9 lead after two straight kills, a service ace and an Osprey error, but a few miscues by Troy gave North Florida the momentum to take set one 25-19.

The Trojans were able to even things up in set two as sophomore Savannah Moore posted three timely blocks, and Belle Waldrop contributed five kills as Troy started finding rhythm in the match. UNF tied things up at 24-24, but a clutch kill from Waldrop with the assist from Alisha Hinrichs and an error from the Ospreys put Troy on the board.

The Trojans took advantage of the momentum and won set three to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Three late kills from senior Lauren Long and two from sophomore Logan Page propelled the Trojans to take the third set 25-21.

North Florida was able to come back and barely hold off the Trojans to take set four 25-23 in order to force a fifth set. A seven-point run by the Ospreys put Troy down 12-5 in the final set as North Florida was able to close out the match.

NOTEWORTHY

• The Trojans out-aced the Ospreys 9-3 as Kiara Barrett and SaraGrace Wilson each recorded three service aces, Bethany Cullity added two, and Moore had one.

• Freshmen Cheyenne Hayes and Wilson each started all five sets for the Trojans, as did sophomore transfer Jenni Young.

• Waldrop recorded a team-high 14 kills and 15.0 points followed by Long with 13 kills and 13.5 points

• Savannah Moore's 9 kills on 17 total attempts, with no errors gave her a career-high .529 hitting percentage.

• The Trojans outscored the Ospreys 73-70, but fell just short of the win

UP NEXT

The Trojans will wrap up the Gamecock Invitational as they face host team South Carolina Saturday at 12 p.m., followed by Mercer at 3 p.m. Fans can follow along with live stats and on Twitter.

For more on Troy volleyball, visit TroyTrojans.com and follow @TroyTrojansVB on Twitter.