Volleyball drops back-to-back matches to start season

The Troy volleyball team fell short in both of its season-opening matches over the weekend in Birmingham, Alabama, to start their season 0-2. The Trojans fell to Georgia 3-0 to start the season before dropping a tight 3-2 match to Samford. 

Troy took on the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday in the Pete Hanna Center. The Trojans attempted to keep up, but Georgia ultimately completed the sweep to win the match.  

The Bulldogs maintained momentum thanks to Bianna Muoneke, who had 12 kills and a .571 hitting percentage.  

Troy senior Amiah Butler led the Trojans through the match with 13 kills and a .233 hitting percentage. Butler also added in a service ace.  

Troy put up a fight in set one, trading points with the Bulldogs and tying the score five times in the first twenty points. Georgia extended its lead to win the first set 25-16, hitting .250 compared to the Trojans -.067 percentage. 

The Trojans jumped ahead early in the second set to take a 5-2 lead, with Butler and sophomore Olivia Kwiatkowski leading the Trojans with 6 kills each in the set. The Trojans couldn’t hold it as Georgia took the lead at 12-11 and held it for the rest of the set to finish 25-20.  

The third set was close out of the gate, but the Bulldogs attack kept them on top, hitting .286 with ten kills. Gerogia closed it out, winning set three 25-19. 

Despite falling short in the season opener, head coach Josh Lauer felt the team showed promise and praised the team’s efforts.  

“We battled against a tough, well-coached Georgia team,”  Lauer said. “We learned a lot for our first match. 

“We competed hard and played together throughout the entire match. Amiah and Jaci did a nice job leading us tonight and we look forward to another competitive match tomorrow against Samford.” 

The Trojans then faced Samford on Sunday. Troy put up a fight in the five set battle but couldn’t keep up with the Bulldogs. Samford was led by Kaleigh Meritt, who had 19 kills on a .381 hitting percentage.  

Butler had another dominant performance with a career-high 24 kills on .345 hitting. Standout performances from Kwiatkowski with 11 kills and Kalina Calvillo with 13 kills powered Troy’s offensive attack.  

"It was a tough, competitive match today against a really good Samford team,” said Lauer. “We had really good contributions and distribution today.  

“Amiah had another really good match and Kalina was really good for us throughout the match.” 

Troy fell in the first set 25-22 after Samford had a late 5-1 run to clinch the lead.  

The Trojans fought back in the second set, posting 6 kills from Butler and a 6-1 run to even the match at 1-1. In the third set, Butler led again with seven kills as Calvillo contributed three opportune kills, pushing the Trojans to a 2-1 lead.  

Samford took the last two sets, hitting .423 in the fourth set and .533 in the fifth set. The Trojans held on, trading points in the last set, but the Bulldogs stole the lead to win the match. 

“Their serving runs were the difference in the match today,” Lauer said. “We’ll reset tomorrow and prepare for another in-state match.” 

Following a midweek tilt against Auburn, the Trojans will stay home to square off against Jackson State on Saturday, Sep. 6 at 6 p.m. for their home opener in Trojan Arena.