Troy University Athletics
Troy University
4-3,0-0Sun Belt
The Citadel
3-4,0-0SoCon
Troy Volleyball Topples The Citadel, 3-0
9/12/2024 9:35:00 PM | Volleyball
TROY, Ala. – The Troy volleyball program had its best performance of the young season on Thursday night, cruising to a 3-0 sweep of The Citadel to secure its first home win in Trojan Arena.
Troy (4-3) dominated on offense for all three sets, and The Citadel (3-4) had no answer on defense. The Trojans hit a staggering clip of .389, the best mark of the year, surpassing their previous best of .353 set on Tuesday night against Alabama State. It's also the best mark since Troy hit .394 against Southeastern Louisiana on August 30, 2019.
Amiah Butler led the way again for the Trojans with a match-high 16 kills on .429 hitting. This is Butler's third consecutive match with 11 or more kills, and over that stretch she is hitting .409 with 43 kills. Tori Hester continued her double-figure kill streak to open the season, as she added 13 kills on .400 hitting.
The Trojans led the Bulldogs in kills (46-30), assists (44-29), service aces (9-3) and digs (43-30). The two teams were tied with five blocks. Hester led Troy with three.
Jordan Sinness led in assists with 22, while Janelle Stuempfig had 17. The duo helped lead the offense to 15.3 kills per set. Jaci Mesa had a match-high 15 digs.
For The Citadel, three players tied for a team-high six kills, and Sophie Childs and Ainsley Dowling had a team-high three blocks.
Set 1: Troy 25-14
The two teams opened the set tied at 4-4 before the Trojans erupted on a 13-4 run to take a commanding 17-8 lead, one that the Trojans would not surrender the rest of the set. Thanks to a kill by Sydney Austin, the Trojans took the frame 25-14.
Kalina Calvillo had a strong opening set, leading Troy with five kills. The freshman out of San Antonio, Texas, finished the night with nine kills on .208 hitting. As a team, Troy hit .462 in the frame, its most efficient set of the match.
Set 2: Troy 25-19
Like the first set, the Trojans never trailed in the second set and were tied just once (1-1). This was the closest set of the match, and The Citadel hung in for much of it and were trailing 15-12 going into the media timeout. Thanks to strong serving from Caroline Darracott, Troy expanded their lead to 20-13. The Citadel closed the gap, but it wasn't enough. A Butler kill won the set for Troy and put them up 2-0.
The Trojans defense held The Citadel to .156 hitting, and Butler had a set-high six kills. Stuempfig and Hester also added two blocks each.
Set 3: Troy 25-17
The Citadel got their first lead of the night on a kill to open the third set, but that didn't last long as Troy exploded for a 10-0 run thanks to impressive serving from Hester, who had three aces. The Trojans took a 15-8 lead into the media timeout. The Bulldogs weren't able to close the gap, and the Trojans secured the sweep on a kill by Hester.
Troy hit .407 and recorded 14 kills with just three errors. Five of Hester's 13 kills came in the final set.
Quotable – head coach Josh Lauer
"I think we came off the Auburn and Cal Poly week pretty hungry. We had some things we needed to get better at. It was difficult because we had a day of prep, then we played, then a day of prep, then we played. Day of prep tomorrow then we play again. We talked all day that we need to get a little bit better and prepare. They've been really focused in practice. I think one of the things we needed to get better with was our service pressure, our defensive execution and our intensity. I think in both matches this week they've really taken to that. We were very efficient offensively the last two nights as well. When all of those things are mixing together it makes for some fun volleyball."
Up Next
The Trojans close out the Troy Invitational on Saturday at 2 p.m. as they take on Kennesaw State in Trojan Arena. The match will be broadcast on ESPN+, with live stats available on Troystats.com.
On Friday, Kennesaw State and The Citadel will play at 2 p.m.
Notables
• Amiah Butler has 43 kills on .409 hitting over the last three matches and had 16 kills on Thursday night.
• Tori Hester had her seventh-consecutive match with double-figure kills to open the season after recording 13 on Thursday.
• The Trojan's .389 hitting percentage is the best of the season and the best since Troy hit .394 against Southeastern Louisiana on August 30, 2019.
• This is Troy's second consecutive sweep after beating Alabama State 3-0 on Tuesday night.
• Troy moves to 2-0 all-time against The Citadel.
