Troy Drops Five-Set Heartbreaker to North Dakota

Friday, September 7

Clemson, S.C.

3:00 p.m.

Troy University

4-3

North Dakota

5-3

North Dakota

TROY

Troy Drops Five-Set Heartbreaker to North Dakota

9/7/2018 5:52:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

By: Troy Athletics Communications

CLEMSON, S.C. – Troy and defending Big Sky champion North Dakota battled in a five-set nail-biter, but the Fighting Hawks came out on top with a 3-2 victory in the first match of the Big Orange Bash at the Jervey Athleltic Center.

The Hawks (5-3) jumped out 7-2 in the deciding fifth set and staved off a late Trojan (4-3) rally to seal the match. Troy strung together a three-point and four-point rally to cut things close before falling 15-12.

Cheyenne Hayes and Belle Waldrop each eclipsed the 20-kill mark in the game with 21 and 20, respectively. They're the first Trojan duo to record 20 kills in the same match since Blair Winston and Marija Zelenovic did so against ULM in November of 2013.

A tight first-set loss put the Trojans in the hole early, as the Fighting Hawks rallied for six of seven points in the midst of a 25-20 win.

Troy bounced back in a big way in set two, dominating the second half of the frame to even the match. Leading by one just after the halfway point – 14-13 – the Trojans caught fire and scored 11 of the last 13 points of the game.

The third set was controlled by UND until late, increasing its lead to 22-15 after a couple of Trojan attacking errors. Troy didn't go down without a fight, however – rallying all the way back to a 22-24 deficit before dropping the set.

This team then did what you can come to expect of them; they fought with their backs against the wall. Troy responded to the set three loss by grinding out a match-tying win in the fourth set. Once again, the Trojans hit a hot streak in the latter half of the set to clinch the frame – a one-point game turned into a six-point win.

Quotable – Troy head coach Josh Lauer
"Two very even teams met on the court today; UND was just more consistent down the stretch. I think it was a good growth opportunity for our team. We still need to figure out how to put consistent sets together. We got another great performance out of Cheyenne Hayes tonight, 21 kills. Amara contributed with a double-double and Lacey had a very good passing and defensive game. We battled and hung in there, but just made some mistakes late that cost us."

Notable
• With 21 kills in Friday's match, Cheyenne Hayes now has double-digit kills in each of the last five games – 13, 21, 14, 16 and 21 respectively. It also marks the second time in as many Friday matches that the sophomore has recorded exactly 21 kills.

• Belle Waldrop set a new career-high with 20 kills in the match. The junior's previous high was 15, set against Mercer in 2017 and Middle Tennessee last weekend.

• Freshman setter Amara Anderson recorded 60+ assists for the second time this season – no Troy player has done so twice in the same season since at least 2006.

• Before Friday, Troy was 2-1 in games that went four sets or longer – 1-0 in five-set matches this season.

Up Next
Troy will face host Clemson at 11:30 a.m. and in-state rival UAB at 3 p.m. Saturday as it wraps up its final road tournament of the season.