Late Lead Not Enough as Trojans Drop Heartbreaker to Eagles

Wednesday, November 18

Foley, Ala.

7:30 p.m.

Troy University

10-7,10-7Sun Belt

Georgia Southern

5-10,5-10Sun Belt

Ga. Southern

Troy

Late Lead Not Enough as Trojans Drop Heartbreaker to Eagles

11/18/2020 11:22:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

By: Troy Athletics Communications

FOLEY, Ala. – Troy couldn't capitalize off a late 13-10 lead in set five as the Trojans dropped a heartbreaker against Georgia Southern to open pool play Wednesday night at the Foley Events Center. The Trojans struggled to get around the Eagle blockers as Georgia Southern earned a five-set decision, 3-2 (29-27, 25-27, 25-22, 20-25, 16-14).

Georgia Southern (5-10, 4-10 SBC) out blocked the Trojans (10-7, 10-6 SBC) 27-10 and held Troy to .055 hitting on the match. Neither team was sharp from the service line during the contest as Troy (12) and Georgia Southern (13) combined for 25 service errors, but the Eagles won the always-critical serve and pass battle with eight aces compared to the Trojans' five.

In the loss, Amara Anderson recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 44 assists and 19 digs. Lacey Jeffcoat finished one dig shy of tying a career high with 29 digs on the night to go along with a kill and five assists. Caitlin Cooper partook in seven of Troy's ten blocks on the night and tallied eight kills.

Cheyenne Hayes led all scorers with 19 kills, 10 digs and three blocks for her third double-double of the year. Julia Brooks ended the night with 11 kills and two digs while Ashley Guenveur posted eight kills, 12 digs and two blocks.

"Another hard-fought tough match tonight," head coach Josh Lauer said. "These are the type of matches you expect to have during the conference tournament. I felt like we were resilient through the entire match, but Georgia Southern made just a few more plays than we did at the right times late in the sets. We have to regroup and get ready to for another tough match on Friday against UT Arlington."

Set One
Hayes got the Trojans started with the first kill of the match before a sneak attack from Anderson pushed Troy's lead to four at 10-6 to force the Eagles' first timeout of the set. Troy rattled off another small run, highlighted by a block from Cooper and Hillier and another kill from Hayes, to step in front 16-11. Georgia Southern battled back with back-to-back blocks to force a Troy timeout at 18-16. Jeffcoat caught the Eagles by surprise with a kill at 19-16, but a 3-0 spurt by Georgia Southern tied the match at 19-19. The squads found themselves deadlocked at 24-24 and exchanged the next six points until Georgia Southern finally gained a two-point advantage at 29-27 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Set Two
Troy and Georgia Southern fought to a 4-4 tie early in the second set before a block from Guenveur and Brooks highlighted a 6-1 run to put the Trojans in front, 10-5. Once again, the Eagles found an answer and pulled back to within one at 11-10. Georgia Southern eventually tied the match at 17-17 but Brooks' third kill of the set quickly put Troy back on top. A controversial no-touch call pulled the Eagles back within two at 23-21 and they eventually tied the match 24-24. Hayes' eighth kill of the match followed by a block from Guenveur and Cooper finally gave Troy the decisive two-point advantage at 27-25 to tie the match at one set apiece.

Set Three
Georgia Southern raced out to a fast start in the third set, forcing a quick timeout from Troy at 7-2. A kill from Brooks cut the deficit to three at 11-8, but the Eagles managed to stretch it back to six at 14-8. The Trojans used a 4-0 outburst to force an Eagle timeout at 15-13, but Troy continued its run out of the timeout and took its first lead at 16-15. A Hayes kill gave Troy a 22-21 lead, but back-to-back Eagle points put the Trojans down by one and prompted Troy's final timeout of the set at 23-22. Georgia Southern closed the set on a 4-0 run to take a 2-1 lead in the match, 25-22.

Set Four
The Eagles jumped out to a 3-0 lead before Troy rattled off eight-straight points behind strong serving from Anderson. The Trojans extended their lead to seven at 11-4 and later to eight after Brooks' ninth kill of the match made the score 16-8. Troy led by as many as 11 at 22-11, but a big run from the Eagles cut the deficit to three at 23-20 to force the Trojans' final timeout of the set. Two points out of the timeout eventually clinched the set for Troy as the Trojans hit .333 to win the fourth set, 25-20.

Set Five
Georgia Southern once again got out to an early lead in the set before Troy climbed back to tie it at 6-6. The two sides exchanged points to a 9-9 tie before the Trojans used a 4-1 run to take a late 13-10 lead. The Eagles found another answer to the Troy run and used a mini run of their own to tie the match again at 13-13 and force a Troy timeout. Georgia Southern was the first to gain a two-point advantage as they took the deciding set, 16-14.

Notable

With 29 digs in the match, Lacey Jeffcoat moved into fourth place on Troy's all-time digs list – and third place in the rally scoring era – with 1,248 career digs.
Amara Anderson recorded her sixth double-double of the year and the 35^th of her career with 44 assists and 19 digs. Her 19-dig output is the most she has registered in a match since she posted 23 against ULM as a freshman in 2018.
Cheyenne Hayes tallied her third double-double of the season, and 28^th of her career, with 19 kills and 10 digs.
Troy falls to 4-9 all time and 2-4 in the Lauer era at the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
This marked the first-ever meeting between Troy and Georgia Southern at the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
Troy falls to 2-3 in five-set matches this season.