Troy Volleyball downs Georgia Southern in home opener

By Lindsey SchoeweVolleyball Beat Writer Troy Volleyball beat Georgia Southern today at home in straight sets (25-23, 26-24 and 25-23) giving head coach, Sonny Kirkpatrick his 100th career win. In the squad’s first ever match in Trojan Arena, junior outside hitter Marija Zelenovic led Troy with 17 kills against the Eagles. “It felt great getting our first win at home. This season is looking good.” said Zelenovic. One of the new Trojan freshmen, Cassie Hendricks, got a chance to show what she could do on the court today tallying four kills and three digs. “I thought we played as team. It was a fun game,” Hendricks said. “This gives us the motivation and the confidence to go into the tournament this weekend.” The two seniors on the team, setter Alexandra Alexander and libero Courtney Cohen did not disappoint in the Monday home debut. Alexander notched 32 assists in the team’s victory while Cohen had 12 digs in the Labor Day contest. Cohen is now just 136 digs shy of passing Vicki Paciski for the school career record. Troy will next travel to Auburn to play in the Active Ankle Challenge which pits the Trojans against Green Bay on Thursday at noon and Mercer later that day at 5 p.m. while playing Auburn on Friday at 7 p.m. to wrap up the weekday road trip. “We play Auburn every year,” assistant coach Lizzie Clough said. “It is a perfect time to knock them off the pedestal.” For coach Kirkpatrick the straight set win a positive but he wants to stay focused on the end of the week. “I am proud of the girls, now we have to focus on this weekend,” said Kirkpatrick. For weekly coverage of Troy volleyball pick up a copy of the Tropolitan every Thursday.