Volleyball earns first win of season in home opener

The Troy volleyball team is now 1-3 on the season after falling to Auburn and defeating Jackson State last week. The Trojans were upended by Auburn in straight sets inside Neville Arena last Wednesday and swept Jackson State at home on Saturday to earn their first win of the season.  

Despite the loss to Auburn, the Trojans had some solid takeaways from the match and bounced back with a resounding win in the home opener. 

Against Auburn, the Trojan offense was led by senior Amiah Butler once again with 12 kills, and freshman setter Madison Marx recorded 12 assists with eight digs and an ace. Olivia Kwiatkowski had eight kills on .286 hitting, and libero Jaci Mesa brought a team-high nine digs.  

Although the result wasn’t what the Trojans wanted, head coach Josh Lauer highlighted his players great performance under pressure. 

"I thought we had a couple players come out and have a good bounce back from the weekend,” head coach Josh Lauer said. “Olivia played really solid tonight, and Madison continues to do a really good job as a freshman.  

“We're putting a lot of responsibility on her; she had some great service runs tonight and she continues to distribute the ball well while playing good defense.”  

Lauer said the Trojans haven’t been able to start strong in a match and look to correct it.  

“We need to find a better start, because the last three matches we have not started really well,” Lauer said. “That is something we need to get straightened out in practice before we're back in Trojan Arena on Saturday.” 

The Trojans then traveled back to Trojan Arena for their home opener against Jackson State on Saturday, where they found that better start. Troy hit a season-best .388 as a team to claim its first win of the season.  

Fueled by another outstanding performance from Butler, the Trojans hammered 39 total kills and picked up a season-high 11 aces. Sydney Austin was almost flawless with five kills on as many attempts and four block assists. Madison Marx and Jordan Sinness each had 15 assists in the match.  

"I thought we had a really good overall team win today,” Lauer said. “I thought we were really consistent from the service line. 

“Sara Bates and Sydney Austin were absolutely fantastic in the serving game. We challenged Amiah after the Auburn match to come out a little more aggressive with her start and I thought she did an absolutely fantastic job with that.” 

Amaya Watson led Jackson State with eight kills, with Victoria Daniels just behind with seven. 

Set one was split in the first eight points of the match, but the Trojans used a 7-1 run to jump to the lead. Troy hit .300 with Butler and Kalina Calvillo handing out a combined 6 kills. 

The Trojans and Tigers stayed close on set two, even with Troy taking a 7-0 lead. The Tigers gained power with Hope Briggs logging five of her team-high eight kills.  

It was not enough to overcome Troy, as it took the set on a 7-3 scoring run to solidify the match lead. 

Set three belonged to Troy as it hit an impressive .423. Butler slammed home seven kills and Emma Blaine contributed three more. The Trojans took the match with four consecutive points to sweep the Tigers. 

The Trojans have a midweek match at home against Mercer before starting a long road trip. Troy plays Kennesaw State on the road at noon on Sunday, Sep. 14 to kick it off.