Troy’s volleyball team snapped their four-game losing streak in Sun Belt Conference play before falling in their second match of the weekend against Louisiana.
The Trojans started the first match blazing hot as they walloped the Ragin’ Cajuns 25-15 in the first set.
The Trojans hit an impressive .364 during the first frame while holding the Ragin’ Cajun offense to a humbling .000 hitting percentage and never trailed during the set.
“I think we focused on having more fun tonight by playing together and that’s when we play our best volleyball,” said senior outside hitter Tori Hester. “We have to control our side of the court and make good habit swings instead of worrying about the other side.”
The second set saw a dip in offensive efficiency, but the results were nearly identical as Troy cruised to a 25-14 win.
Troy faced stout resistance at the net in set three, as Louisiana’s blocking took over the net with seven blocks while holding the Troy offense to .193 hitting.
The Trojans battled back after trailing most of the set with a 3-0 run to finish the sweep 25-23.
Senior outside hitter Tori Hester led the team with 19 kills and 10 digs while becoming just the second Troy player in the rally-scoring era to reach 1,500 kills and 1,000 digs.
Amiah Butler also had a standout performance, registering 14 kills, three blocks and two service aces.
Troy got out to a hot start again in the second match, cruising to a 25-17 opening set victory on a .368 hitting percentage.
The Ragin’ Cajuns fought back into the match in sets two and three by outhitting, out-blocking and tallying significantly less errors than the Trojans.
Troy dropped both sets 25-19 and 25-23 while racking up 17 attack errors and four service errors.
Troy narrowly won the tiebreak-forcing fourth set 25-23 on a Louisiana service error despite continued offensive inefficiency.
Louisiana jumped out to a massive early 9-1 lead in the match tiebreak and Troy was unable to climb back into the frame.
Hester put up another excellent hitting stat line with a match-high 21 kills in her 40th consecutive match with double-digit kills, the longest known active streak in Division I women’s volleyball.
Freshman standout Kalina Calvillo erupted for a career high 19 kills on a deadly accurate .417 hitting clip.
Another freshman outside hitter, Olivia Kwiatkowski, made her debut in Trojan Arena during the series, tallying 18 kills over the two matches.
Setter Janelle Stuempfig recorded 57 assists during the series, including a milestone 1,500th assist during the fourth set of the second match.
“Service errors were way too high, attack errors were way too high and we couldn’t stick to a good rhythm, and it cost us,” volleyball head coach Josh Lauer said.
Lauer and his Trojans will look to improve their 3-5 conference record as they take on the 6-2 Arkansas State Red Wolves in an away series beginning on Oct. 24 at 6 p.m.
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