Hester Dominates, Troy Beats Southern Miss in Five Sets

Thursday, November 7

Hattiesburg, Miss.

6 p.m.

Troy University

11-12,6-7Sun Belt

Southern Miss

9-16,5-8Sun Belt

Troy

Southern Miss.

Hester Dominates, Troy Beats Southern Miss in Five Sets

11/7/2024 10:32:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Tori Hester wad dominant on offense and defense, helping propel the Troy volleyball team to a 3-2 win over Southern Miss on Thursday night at the Wellness Center.

Hester recorded a season-high 33 kills, which is the most by a Sun Belt player this season and is tied for the eighth-most in a five-set match in Division I women's volleyball this season. It's Hester's third career-match with 30 more kills and was just three shy of her personal best of 36 which she set against Southern Miss last season. It's the second most by a Troy player in program history. Her 100 attacks are the most in program history and is just the fourth player in DI to record triple-digit attacks.

She also extended her streak of double-digit kills to 45 matches, which continues to remain the longest known active streak in DI women's volleyball.

Troy (11-12, 6-7 SBC) dropped the first and fourth sets, and battled hard in the fifth set to pick up its first road conference win of the season. Southern Miss (9-16, 5-8 SBC) dominated the first and fourth sets but had no answer for the remarkable display of offense from Hester.

In addition to Hester, Kalina Calvillo had a strong night for the Trojans recording 11 kills on .300 hitting. Outside hitter Sara Bates had a career-showing as she set a new personal best in kills with nine on .269 hitting. Her previous high in kills was three against College of Charleston last season. On the night, Troy had 70 kills .195 hitting.

Janelle Stuempfig had a season-high 45 assists and added three kills of her own, as the Trojans averaged 14.0 kills per set.

On defense, Ella Broadhead led with six kills, while Hester logged her 10th double-double of the year with a season-high 22 digs.

Set 1: Southern Miss 25-21
The Golden Eagles started strong in the first set, jumping out to a 16-10 lead. Troy battled back to make it tied at 18, but Southern Miss closed on a 7-3 run to take the early 1-0 advantage. Hester had eight kills in the first, but the Trojans offense couldn't quite find their rhythm.

Southern Miss outhit Troy .205-.118.

Set 2: Troy 25-23
Neither team broke away in the second set, as there was 13 tie scores and four lead changes. Down 21-20, the Trojans won four of the next five points to make it 24-22. With Southern Miss adding another point to make it 24-23, Hester came up clutch with a big kill to even the score at 1-1.

It was Hester's most dominant set, as she recorded 11 kills on 25 attacks with one errorc for a .400 hitting clip.

Set 3: Troy 25-19
Troy used the momentum it got from winning the second set to come out quickly in the third set, as it led 15-10 at the media timeout. While Southern Miss tried to make things interesting and cut the Troy to lead to one, the Trojans won seven of the next nine points to take the set and a 2-1 match lead.

The Trojans had their best offensive set, recording a .333 (18-3-45) hitting clip, while holding the Golden Eagles to .156 (12-5-45). Hester had nine of Troy's kills on 22 attempts with no errors for a .409 hitting clip.

Set 4: Southern Miss 25-14
Southern Miss cruised in the fourth set to even things up and push the match to a fifth and final frame. Troy struggled on offense hitting .088 (7-4-34), while the Golden Eagles hit .257 (15-6-35). Southern Miss led for the entire set.

Set 5: Troy 15-13
Going into the media timeout, Troy trailed 8-7. The Trojans came out of the break on a 6-3 run to make it 13-11. The Golden Eagles won the next two points to tie things up at 13-13, but Troy got a kill by Bates to force the set point. A block by Broadhead and Stuempfig closed out the match to give a Troy a much-needed road win.

Quotable – head coach Josh Lauer
"That was a tremendous team effort and team win tonight. It wouldn't have been possible without an absolutely career night from Tori Hester. She was great offensively and defensively and really led our team. I'm also really proud of the effort that Sara Bates put in and the service run by Olivia Grantham in the 5th set was clutch. We're banged up and we had a lot of people contribute at the right times tonight for us to be successful. So, it was a really great and gritty resilient team victory."

Up Next
Troy continues its series against Southern Miss on Friday night at 6 p.m. The match will be on ESPN+, with stats available at Troystats.com.

Notables
• Tori Hester recorded a season-high 33 kills, which is the most by a Sun Belt player this season and is tied for the eighth-most in a five-set match in Division I women's volleyball this season.
• Thursday was Hester's third career-match with 30 more kills and was just three shy of her personal best of 36 which she set against Southern Miss last season. It's the second most by a Troy player in program history.
• Hester's 100 attacks are the most in program history and she is just the fourth player in DI to record triple-digit attacks this season.
• Hester logged her 10th double-double of the year after recording a season-high 22 digs.
• Sara Bates had a career-high nine kills on .269 hitting.
• Janelle Stuempfig had a season-high 45 assists to help lead the Trojans to 14 kills per set.
• Troy moves to 8-6 all-time against Southern Miss, and has won the last four matchups.