Troy Volleyball Drops Home Opener to Cal Poly, 3-0

Saturday, September 7

Troy, Ala.

2 p.m.

Troy University

2-3,0-0Sun Belt

Cal Poly

3-3,0-0Big West

Cal Poly

Troy

Troy Volleyball Drops Home Opener to Cal Poly, 3-0

9/7/2024 5:48:00 PM | Volleyball

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TROY, Ala. – The Troy volleyball program struggled to find its offensive footing as it fell to Cal Poly 3-0 in its home opener at Trojan Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Troy (2-3) hit just .167, while Cal Poly (3-3) was much more effective with a clip of .299. The Mustangs led in kills (45-37), assists (41-33) and service aces (6-5). On defense, Cal Poly led in digs (40-30), while each side had six blocks.

Amiah Butler led the match with 16 kills and had just two errors for a .467 hitting clip. Tori Hester continued her double-figure kill streak to start the season, as she had ten on 38 attempts. Hester also had two solo blocks and one assist to tie with Audrey Worthington's three blocks.

Janelle Stuempfig led the way in passing (setting) for Troy with 19 assists, while Jordan Sinness had seven. As a team the Trojans had 33 assists and helped lead the offense to 12.33 kills per set.

Hester also led the Trojans with nine digs and two aces.

Set 1: Cal Poly 26-24
Cal Poly came out firing and quickly jumped ahead 10-7 before the Trojans battled back and took a 14-13 lead – their first of the match. The Trojans remained in control and seemed to be heading toward a set victory up 23-19. After a pair of Breklyn Pulling kills and a Troy hitting error, the Mustangs made it 23-22 before winning four of the next five points to take the set and a 1-0 lead over the Trojans.

It was Troy's best hitting set with a clip of .216, but four service errors kept the Mustangs alive, who hit .367.

Set 2: Cal Poly 26-24
The second set was full of ties and lead changes, as the two sides evened the score 13 times. The Trojans found themselves down to 24-22 before pulling off back-to-back points on a Hester kill and a Kalina Calvillo service ace to tie it up. The Mustangs answered with a kill and ace to win the set.

The Trojans struggled with a .147 hitting percentage, while the Mustangs hit .324 and had four blocks.

Set 3: Cal Poly 25-23
Like the first two sets, the third frame was back and forth until the final point. Troy got off to a 3-1 start, but four straight points put the Mustangs ahead, and they did not relinquish the lead for the remainder of the frame. Troy battled and clawed but was unable to get the run of points it needed. Down 18-14, Troy won three four of five points to make it 19-18, but still couldn't pull ahead. A kill by Pulling gave Cal Poly the match victory.

Quotable – head coach Josh Lauer
"Cal Poly is a really good team. Our schedule is built so we get to play really good teams. I think we learned that when our serving is really tough, I think we can be dynamite. I thought we passed well today, but we didn't take care of the end of the sets like we wanted to. We've got to get back in the gym and spend some time on finishing out the right way."

Up Next
The Trojans return to action on Tuesday night in Montgomery, Ala., to take on Alabama State. First serve is set for 6 p.m. and live stats will be available on Troystats.com. The match will also be broadcast on the Hornet Sports Network.

Notables
• Butler had a match-high 16 kills on .467 hitting for the most efficient performance of the season for the junior from Pensacola, Fla. Butler's 16 kills are the second most for her this season after she had 18 against New Hampshire.
• Audrey Worthington made her first start of the season on Saturday.
• Tori Hester had ten kills and has now recorded double-figure kills in all five matches this season.
• The Trojans move to 0-1 all-time against Cal Poly.