Trojans Set for Conference Tournament Beginning with Little Rock

TROY, Ala. – Troy volleyball will head to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed in the East division after tallying a 9-7 record in 2021 conference play with a first-round matchup with Little Rock on November 18 at 7:30 from the Foley Sports Tourism Complex in Foley, Alabama.

The Trojans had already faced Little Rock once this year before, back on October 1, where the Trojans defeated Little Rock 3-1. The winner will advance to the quarter-finals and take on the number one seeded team in the west, Texas State, on Friday, Nov.19, also at 7:30

Troy looks to continue their success from the regular season. They saw them finish with a 16-11 record overall while knocking off three power five teams for the first time in school history, with wins over Alabama, LSU, and Virginia Tech.

Head Coach Josh Lauer is the first coach in program history to lead the Trojans to three consecutive seasons with a winning record in Sun Belt Conference play and is looking to carry that success into the postseason.

"This is the most exciting time of the year," Lauer said. "We talked a lot about competing to win, having fun, and focusing on what we do best, one match at a time. The Sun Belt has been extremely competitive all year long, and we expect nothing different this coming week. We are looking forward to a great match with Little Rock. Our teams are very similar statistically, and we will have the showcase match on the tournament's first night. I hope everyone will tune in on ESPN+ because there is going to be some great volleyball being played this week in Foley."

The Matchup: (4E) Troy (16-11, 9-1) vs. (5W) Little Rock (14-14, 5-11)
Where: Foley, Ala.– Foley Sports Tourism Complex
When: Friday, November 18– 7:30 pm.
Live Stats: gotroy.us/3Dq8zvr
Live Stream: gotroy.us/3cjLyOX

Quick Hitters:

Head coach Josh Lauer is now 74-70 in his career leading the Trojans. He is the first coach in Trojan volleyball history to lead the Trojans to three consecutive winning seasons in conference play. Coach Lauer also guided the Trojans to three victories over Power Five teams in the same season with wins over Alabama, LSU, and Virginia Tech.
In the match against Louisiana, Amara Anderson surpassed Megan Henderson to become the Trojan's all-time leader in assists during the rally-scoring era. Anderson is now up to 4,409 assists in her career and needs 562 assists to become the all-time assist leader in program history. This season Anderson averaged 10.52 assists/set (2nd overall) and .45 services aces/set (3rd overall); she also guided the Troy offense to 12.95 kills/set (5th overall). Anderson's 1052 total assists this season helped her surpass the 3000-career assist mark for her career. Anderson's 59 assists in Troy's win over Georgia Southern is the most by a player in the Sun Belt Conference this year.
Julia Brooks is the only player in the conference to be Top 10 in four statistical categories (Hitting %, Kills/Set, Blocks/Set & Points/Set) and is the only Middle Hitter in the Top 10 in the Kills/Set and Points/Set categories and accumulated double-digit kills in 19 of 27 matches. She led the Trojans in kills with 325 on the year. She had a career-high 24 kills in the win against Georgia Southern in the last outing.
Despite only playing 15 total matches and only 12 matches during conference play due to injury, Tori Hester still accumulated six double-doubles for the season. Additionally, Hester finished 11th in Points/Set and 6th in Digs/Set among a talented group of actual six rotation pin attackers during conference play. Hester also racked up double-digit kills in 8 of her 15 total matches this season.
In the rally-scoring era, Cheyenne Hayes became the Trojan's all-time leader in kills during Troy's 3-1 match win over Chattanooga earlier in the season, passing Meghan Gilroy. Hayes continued to showcase her talents this season. She was the best serve-receive pass six rotation player in the conference with a 2.39 passing average (4pt scale) and finished the season with double-digit kills in 13 of 27 total matches this season. Hayes also accumulated six double-doubles on the season and will finish her career as the all-time kills leader at Troy in the rally score era.
Hayes now has 1625 kills in her career, which puts her second all-time. Hayes is 19 kills away from being the all-time leader in Trojan history. Earlier in the year, Cheyenne Hayes became the fifth Trojan in program history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in her career.

Trojans Set for Conference Tournament Beginning with Little Rock

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Players Mentioned

Amara Anderson

Julia Brooks

Cheyenne Hayes

Tori Hester

Troy University Athletics