Troy Volleyball Sweeps Mercer in Season Opener

Friday, August 28

Troy, Ala.

6 p.m.

Troy University

1-0,0-0Sun Belt

Mercer

0-1,0-0SoCon

Team	1	2	3	Final F
Mercer	13	21	9	0
Troy	25	25	25	3

Photo by: Davis Photography

Troy Volleyball Sweeps Mercer in Season Opener

8/28/2026 10:21:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Josh Lauer Press Conference Players Press Conference

By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. — Troy volleyball started the season strong following a sweep over Mercer (25-13, 25-21, 25-9) inside Trojan Arena.

Troy (1-0) had an all-around dominant offensive performance, posting 43 kills to Mercer's 16. The Trojans recorded 10 service aces, including five from third-year standout Kalina Calvillo.
The Trojans hit an absurd .434 (43/7/83), the highest hitting percentage in a single match since 2002 when Troy hit .524 against Morris Brown. It secured the highest attack percentage against a Division I opponent since making the transition to DI in 1993.

Friday's contest marked the first time the Trojans hosted a season-opener since the 2021 season, when Troy fell to Ole Miss in three sets. The victory also secured the first season-opening win for the Cardinal and White since the 2020 season, when Troy completed a three-game sweep over Georgia State.

Set 1 — Troy 25, Mercer 13
The opening set featured a back-and-forth match through the first 11 points of the contest as the Trojans held a 6-5 advantage. Troy's offense found rhythm throughout the remainder of the set, as the team went on to post a .469 hitting percentage in the first set, powered by Ruether's five kills.

Set 2 — Troy 25, Mercer 21
A tight-knit second set saw the Trojans and Bears knotted at nine apiece before Troy was able to maintain a slight lead the rest of the way. Ashlynn Axtell's third kill of the set helped propel the Trojans to a 2-0 lead in the contest.

Set 3 — Troy 25, Mercer 9
All the energy was on the Trojans' side as Troy jumped out to a 16-1 edge. Hitting an impressive .481 in the third, the Cardinal and White cruised to a sweep over the Bears.

Quotable — Head Coach Josh Lauer
"What a great crowd tonight in Trojan Arena. We're so appreciative of the fans that came out to support the team tonight. Just top to bottom, a great team performance. We were really tough on offense tonight. Credit to our passers, and our attackers displayed great habits tonight—they were aggressive, took high swings, were absolutely dynamite, and put a lot of pressure [on Mercer]. Overall, a great opening night for our team, and I'm excited to see where this group can go."

Notables

Troy improved to 17-7 all-time against Mercer.
The third set of Friday's contest saw the highest hitting percentage by the Trojans in a set since Oct. 14, 2024, when Troy hit .607 in the third set against Arkansas State.
Ashlynn Axtell posted a career-high hitting percentage of .643 with eight kills.
Kalino Calvillo recorded 12 kills and tied her career-high in service aces with five.
Four players made their Trojan debut in Troy's win over Mercer. Fifth-year transfer Sophie Ocampo registered four kills and a block, second-year Josie Hensley posted 11 assists, first-year Isabella Ruether posted eight kills on .500 hitting, and first-year Haley Nash posted a team-high 13 digs.

Up Next
Troy returns to Trojan arena tomorrow for the second day of the Troy Invitational where they await a matchup with North Alabama (1-0) at 4:00 p.m. The match will be available on ESPN+ with live stats available at TroyTrojans.com/LiveStats.