Troy Completes Perfect Home Slate with Win Over Appalachian State

Saturday, November 7

Troy, Ala.

1 p.m.

Troy University

9-4,9-4Sun Belt

Appalachian State

1-10,1-10Sun Belt

App State

Troy

Troy Completes Perfect Home Slate with Win Over Appalachian State

11/7/2020 4:43:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – Troy capped off a perfect 8-0 home record in 2020 with a convincing four-set victory over Appalachian State Saturday afternoon in Trojan Arena. The Trojans secured the first unbeaten home season in program history with a 3-1 (25-23, 17-25, 25-14, 25-17) win over the Mountaineers.

Troy (9-4, 9-4 SBC) improves to 22-1 at home over the last two seasons which marks the best two-year home stretch in school history. The Trojans' 19 conference wins over the last two seasons are the most over a two-year span in the program's Division I era (1993).

Amara Anderson (40 AS, 12 DG) and Tori Hester (12 K, 11 DG) each posted double-doubles in the victory while Halston Hillier recorded 11 kills, her fourth-straight match in double figures. Troy's middles had another strong outing as Julia Brooks added eight kills on .333 hitting and Caitlin Cooper registered eight kills and six total blocks.

Lacey Jeffcoat led the defensive effort in the back row with a team-high 14 digs. The Trojans continued to find their groove at the service line with nine aces on the match led by Natalie Hummel's three.

"It was a great way to close out our home season in Trojan Arena," head coach Josh Lauer said. "I was really proud of our mental grit this weekend. It's really difficult to play three matches in a weekend against the same opponent and I think we have been grinding through that really well. App State never backed down and they fought to the very end. I was really proud of our effort and how many different people were able to contribute this weekend."

Set One
App State tallied the first two points of the contest before Hillier got the Trojans on the board with a kill at 2-1. Hester put the Trojans in front for the first time at 10-9 en route to taking a 13-9 lead to force a Mountaineer timeout. Troy gained its largest lead of the first set after Hillier's third kill of the match put the Trojans on top, 16-10. App State responded with a run of their own before an Ashley Guenveur kill stopped the bleeding at 17-13, but the Mountaineers clawed back into the set to force a Troy timeout at 17-16. Troy took the next two points out of the timeout before the Mountaineers used a 4-0 run to take a late 20-19 lead. The two sides were deadlocked at a 22-22 tie before Troy took three of the next four points, highlighted by Hillier's fifth kill of the set, to take the opening stanza, 25-23.

Set Two
Troy surrendered another early lead to open set two as App State jumped out to an 8-3 lead to force a quick Trojan timeout. Back-to-back kills from Julia Brooks eventually closed the gap to three at 10-7, but the Trojans couldn't get over the hump. The Mountaineers extended their lead to six at 17-11 to force the final Troy timeout of the set. App State controlled the second set from start to finish and led by as many as eight en route to tying the match, 25-17.

Set Three
The two sides battled to a 4-4 tie until a block from Cooper and Hester highlighted a Troy run to put the Trojans in front, 8-5. A solo block from Brooks capped a 3-0 run that extended Troy's lead to 12-7 to force a Mountaineers timeout. Back-to-back aces from Natalie Hummel pushed the Trojan lead to seven at 17-10 before an App State attack error and an ace from Anderson prompted another Mountaineer timeout at 20-11. In total, Troy posted four service aces while taking the set in dominating fashion, 25-14.

Set Four
Anderson found her mark on two dump attacks early on, but Troy and App State split the first 20 points of the fourth set to a 10-10 tie. Hillier teamed up with Cooper for yet another block and then followed that up with a kill to give Troy a 15-12 lead entering the media timeout. A Mountaineer attack error extended the Trojan lead to five at 19-14, prompting a Mountaineer timeout. Alison Siersma came up with back-to-back points for the Trojans with a hard-hit kill followed by an ace to push the Troy advantage to six at 21-15. Leading 23-17, Hester registered two consecutive kills to clinch the match for the Trojans, 25-17.

Notable

Troy is now 22-1 inside Trojan Arena over the last two seasons. The Trojans finished 2020 with a perfect 8-0 record, marking the first time in program history Troy has finished a season unbeaten at home.
Troy's 19 conference wins over the last two seasons are the most over a two-year span in the program's Division I era (1993).
The Trojans improve to 7-9 all time and 6-3 at home against App State.
Troy is 42-16 (.724) under Josh Lauer when winning the first set.
The Trojans improved to 5-1 in four-set matches this season.
Freshman Tori Hester tallied her second double-double of the season with a match-high 12 kills and 11 digs.
Amara Anderson posted her fifth double-double of the year, and 34^th of her career, with 40 assists and 12 digs.

Up Next
Troy will close out the regular season on the road with a three-match series against Georgia Southern beginning Thursday, Nov. 12 at 10 a.m. (CT)