Troy Fends off Georgia Southern Through Five Sets, Earns Best Sun Belt Record

Thursday, November 9

Troy, Ala.

6 p.m.

Troy University

14-11,12-3Sun Belt

Georgia Southern

19-7,9-6Sun Belt

Ga. Southern

Troy

Troy Fends off Georgia Southern Through Five Sets, Earns Best Sun Belt Record

11/9/2023 10:52:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. – Troy fends off Georgia Southern through five sets 3-2 (26-24, 25-19, 16-25, 18-25, 15-7) inside Trojan Arena Thursday evening. With the victory, the Trojans became 12-3 to earn the best Sun Belt Conference record in program history.

Georgia Southern took an early lead in set one at 15-9 behind a kill from Megan Vickery. At the 21-18 mark, the Trojans battled back to take the lead behind back-to-back kills from Amiah Butler. An ace from Caroline Darracott tied the match at 23-23. Laying one down, Butler closed the door at 26-24 to take the first lead of the match 1-0.

Set two started trading points between the Trojans and the Eagles. Tori Hester slammed one down to give Troy a five-point cushion at 14-9. The Eagles put together a string of kills at the 19-13 mark to cut the lead to four points, 20-15, behind Jordan Christy. Butler extended the Trojans lead at 24-19 before an ace from Jaci Mesa ended the set with Troy in the lead 2-0.

The Eagles grabbed a three-point lead at 12-9 behind Ally Barnhart in the third set. Troy battled back, with a kill from Tori Hester to tie the match at 13-13. Jillian Grey built the lead for Georgia Southern at 18-14. The Eagles wrapped up the set with six blocks and 10 kills to make the match 2-1.

Georgia Southern took the fourth set behind three blocks and 15 kills to tie the series 2-2 and force set five.

Troy took control of the fifth set, with three blocks from Stuempfig and Brooks to seal an eight-point lead at the 11-3 mark. The Eagles tried to chip away behind an ace from Paige Powers at 12-6, but the Butler and Broadhead swiftly closed the door with one final block to take the 3-2 victory.

Paige Powers led Georgia Southern (19-7, 9-6) with 11 kills and an ace. Defensively, the Eagles nabbed 15 blocks as opposed to Troy's nine. Defensively, they were led by Ashlynn Lovett, who nabbed 17 digs.

Quote from Josh Lauer
"We were shaky offensively in sets three and four, but one of the cool things is that once we got into the locker room after the match after tough sets, our players were still good teammates. We couldn't play the third and fourth set again. We could only look forward and focus on the fifth set. We did an excellent job of that. I told them that if our offense got more efficient, we would be okay; we were serving, passing, and defending well. So, we just needed to settle down and be more efficient offensively. Once we did that, good things happened."

Stat Leaders

Kills: Amiah Butler – 17
Assists: Janelle Stuempfig – 41
Digs: Jaci Mesa – 21
Blocks: Julia Brooks – 5
Aces: Jaci Mesa – 3

Notes

Olivia Grantham made her first career start as a Trojan.
Troy notched the best hitting percentage in the match in the second set with a .357.
With the win, the Trojans notch the best performance in league play at 12-3, the previous being 11-5 from last season.
In the first set, Butler notched 8 of her 15 kills of the night while hitting a .500