Troy falls on the road at No. 18 South Carolina

The Trojans dropped the match at the Carolina Volleyball Center to the No. 18 South Carolina Gamecocks, 3-1, Sunday. This was the first road match of the season for Troy, and the first match to go beyond the minimum of three sets.

Troy tallied 47 kills in the match at a .160 hitting percentage compared to 51 at a .289 percentage for South Carolina. The major difference-makers in the match were the Gamecocks' blocking prowess and the Trojans' serving struggles. South Carolina recorded 13 total blocks compared to Troy’s five, with Sydney Davis and Elise Marchal recording eight and seven block assists, respectively, for the home team.

The Trojans missed 18 serves in the match while recording only five aces. This has served as an issue for the Trojans this season, with 55 service errors across four matches compared to only 26 from Troy’s opponents in those matches. However, this serving aggressiveness put the team in first place in the Sun Belt in aces per set by a large margin, at 2.31, with second place at 2.00.

Olivia Borgman played a crucial role in South Carolina’s win on Sunday, recording a double-double with a game-high 17 kills along with 10 digs. Kiana Dinn commanded the Gamecocks’ offense, totaling 29 assists, while Lilly Gillespie anchored the defense behind the block, digging up 21 Trojan attacks.

Kalina Calvillo continued her streak of double-digit kills in every match so far this season with 16, leading the Trojans in kills again. This marked her highest count of the season in total kills, blocks and points.

Isabella Ruether became the first Trojan outside of Calvillo to reach double-digit kills in a match this season. Five of Ruether’s kills came in the fourth set, with three points in a row for Troycoming from the freshman’s kills.

Josie Hensley also had an early-career day with her first double-double with 13 assists and 10 digs. In her first season seeing game action, the second-year player has notched 10 or more assists in every game off the bench.

Set one was very competitive at the start, with ties at nine, 10 and 11, also with four points scored by Calvillo. South Carolina then went on a run, scoring nine of the next 10 points, from which the Trojans could not recover. The home team hit a blistering .481 percentage, with help from Marchal and Ally Cavanaugh converting on every swing in the set.

The Trojans remained in striking distance, preventing extended runs from the Gamecocks for most of set two until Gillespie led a six-point run serving to close the set at 25-16. Five serving errors for the Trojans in each of the first two sets made it difficult for them to put together any runs of their own. Calvillo also proved she is human on the front line, recording her first hitting error of the season due to the South Carolina block.

Troy stole the third set, earning an early lead because of errors from South Carolina, but the Gamecocks battled back, tying the game at 16. The defense for both teams shined down the stretch, yet Davis gave South Carolina the lead at 20-19. Sophie Ocampo and Calvillo combined for blocks on back-to-back points to bring the Trojans back tied at 22. Calvillo then brought the Trojans home with two kills and help from a Haley Nash ace.

South Carolina never surrendered the lead throughout the entire fourth set, despite a couple of early ties and a late Trojan run. The block for South Carolina showed up in the fourth set with six total blocks, with Marchal and Davis totaling seven block assists together in this set alone.

Troy volleyball will stay on the road next weekend, going to Gainesville to play Florida Atlantic on Saturday, Sept. 12, and Florida on Sunday, Sept. 13.