Troy Volleyball Defeats LSU in Thrilling Five Set Match

Saturday, August 31

Baton Rouge, La.

3 p.m.

Troy University

2-1,0-0Sun Belt

LSU

2-1,0-0SEC

Troy

LSU

Troy Volleyball Defeats LSU in Thrilling Five Set Match

8/31/2024 7:31:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

BATON ROUGE, La. – Troy volleyball defeated LSU in thrilling fashion on Saturday afternoon, as it rallied back from a 2-1 deficit to win in five sets at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

 Troy (2-1) got off to a strong start, before dropping the second and third sets. The Trojans controlled play during the fourth set before the teams went back and forth in the fifth frame, which Troy came away with a 25-23 win over LSU (2-1).

Tori Hester once again dominated, as the senior outside hitter recorded 24 kills, to give her 68 kills in the first three matches of the season. Joining Hester in double-figure kills was Amiah Butler with 12 and Olivia Kwiatkowski with 11. Janelle Stuempfig and Jordan Sinness led the way in passing, as Stuempfig had a team-high 26 assists and Sinness had 23. On defense Sydney Austin recorded a career-high eight blocks.

As a team, Troy had 59 kills with 27 errors on 159 attempts for a .201 hitting clip.

For the Tigers, Jurnee Robinson had a team-high 20 kills. Jessica Jones had 10 blocks for LSU. The Tigers had 65 kills with 22 errors on 160 attempts for a hitting percentage of .269. They recorded 32 blocks compared to Troy's 16.

Set 1: Troy 25-21
The two teams traded points for much of the set, with LSU leading 15-14 going into the media timeout. Troy came out of the break on a 5-0 run to gain control and take a 19-15 lead. The Trojans closed out the first frame with a kill by Kwiatkowski to take the 1-0 lead. Hester led the way with eight kills, while Butler had six.

Set 2: LSU 25-18
The Tigers controlled most of the second set, and closed on a 15-8 scoring run. Troy struggled on offense, hitting -.029 with nine kills and 10 errors on 34 attempts. Hester had five kills for Troy, while Robinson had five for the Tigers along with two blocks.

Set 3: LSU 25-8
The Trojans had their worst set of the season on Saturday as they hit -.074 and recorded just four kills. LSU hit .667 and had zero errors to go with its 14 kills on 21 attempts.

Set 4: Troy 25-16
With its back against the walls, Troy needed a big set to continue the match, and that's exactly what it got. The Trojans jumped out to a quick 10-6 lead, and extended it to 19-11, before closing out the set on an attack error by LSU. Kwiatkowski had arguably the best set of her young collegiate career with a team-high five kills on eight attempts with no errors. Butler and Hester each added three kills to help force a fifth and final set.

The Trojans hit .345 and logged 12 kills on 29 attempts with two errors. It was the best hitting set of the afternoon for the Trojans. The Troy defense also held LSU to .077 hitting.

Set 5: Troy 25-23
The most intense set of the match saw Troy have the chance to win seven times before finally taking the win on the eighth match point of the frame. LSU had four opportunities to clinch the win, but the Trojans kept answering. Troy's first match point came while leading 14-12, but LSU answered, and the two teams kept trading punches.

With the Trojans leading 24-23, Hester recorded her 24th kill of the match to see the deal and give the Trojans the win. Hester recorded six kills in the set, while freshman Kalina Calvillo recorded the first four kills of her collegiate career.

Quotable – head coach Josh Lauer
"What a gritty team effort against a good LSU team. Our response after the third set was really important and I could not be more proud of our team's belief and composure in both the fourth and fifth sets. We got such great contributions from so many people: our two freshmen, Kalina and Olivia, were so good in the fifth set, while Amiah and Jaci were composed and steady all match. Of course Tori Hester, who was outstanding all weekend. It was a great team win for the Trojans for sure."

Up Next
Troy is back in action on Tuesday night as they head to Auburn to take on another SEC foe. First serve is set for 7 p.m. Fans can watch the game on SECN+ and follow live stats at Troystats.com.

Notables
• Tori Hester had 24 kills in Troy's win. In the first three matches – all in Baton Rouge – Hester recorded 68 kills on .248 hitting.
• In addition to Hester's showing, Amiah Butler (12) and Olivia Kwiatkowski (11) had double-figure kills.
• Sydney Austin recorded a career-high eight blocks in Troy's win over LSU. Her previous high was seven, a mark she has hit twice.
• Janelle Stuempfig recorded 26 assists, while Jordan Sinness had 23.
• Troy now moves to 2-1 all-time against LSU. Troy defeated the Tigers 3-2 in 2021.