September 19, 2024

Head coach Josh Lauer makes announcement today after confir…..

 

Volleyball Sweeps Alabama State, 3-0

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Troy volleyball team picked up its first sweep of the season on Tuesday night, defeating Alabama State 3-0 in the Dunn-Oliver Acadome.

 

Troy (3-3) dominated all three sets en route to its first victory in over a week, snapping its two-match losing streak. With the loss, Alabama State (3-4) has now dropped its last four contests.

 

Tori Hester had her most efficient offensive showing of the season, recording a match-high 12 kills with two errors on 19 attempts for a .526 hitting percentage. Amiaha Butler followed her good showing on Saturday against Cal Poly with 11 kills on 27 attempts for a hitting clip of .333. The Trojans led the Hornets in kills (39-26), assists (33-26) and service aces (13-0).

 

Troy’s 13 service aces is a season-high and the most since Nov. 12, 2021, when it had 15 against Georgia Southern. Hester had five of those, while Jordan Sinness had three.

 

Sinness and Janelle Stuempfig split the setting duties and helped the Trojans’ offense generate 13.0 kills per set. Sinness had a team-high 17 assists, with Stuempfig added 13.

On defense, the Trojans had 2.0 blocks thanks to block assists from Butler, Hester, Sydney Austin, and Audrey Worthington – who also had five kills. Hester and Jaci Mesa each had nine digs to lead Troy.

 

Set 1: Troy 25, Alabama State 13

The two teams got off to even starts, with Troy leading 9-8 through the first 17 points of the match before going on an 11-0 run thanks to solid serving from Sinness to take control of the set 20-8. Troy won the set of an Alabama State service error.

 

The Trojans hit .440 in the first frame, which included six kills from Butler.

 

Set 2: Troy 25, Alabama State 19

The Trojans started the second set on a 6-1 run to take control early. The Hornets battled back as the set progressed and cut the Trojans lead to 18-15. Troy responded with a 7-4 run that was capped off by a Kalina Calvillo kill to give the Trojans a 2-0 lead in the match.

 

Set 3: Troy 25, Alabama State 10

Troy had its most ferocious set of the season to close out the match on Tuesday, as it won 20 of the first 26 points to take a commanding 20-6 lead. A kill by Butler won the set and match for the Trojans.

 

Troy was dominant from the service line with six aces.

 

Quotable – head coach Josh Lauer

“We stayed really composed tonight and got good offensive contributions across the board. I thought that our serving tonight was the difference. We were really dynamite from the service line, and that put a lot of pressure on them. That was the difference in the match.”

 

Up next

The Trojans are back on the court on Thursday night to open the Troy Invitational against The Citadel at 6 p.m. Troy will play Kennesaw State on Saturday at 2 p.m. to close out the tournament. Both matches will be broadcast on ESPN+, with live stats available on Troystats.com.

 

Notables

• After recording 12 kills on Tuesday, Tori Hester has recorded double-figure kills in all six matches this season. She sits at 103 kills (4.90 k/s) on the year.

• Amiah Butler had 11 kills on 27 attempts to record her fifth double-figure kill performance of the season, including her second consecutive one.

• Tori Hester’s five aces is a season-high for the senior outside hitter and just one off her career-high of six.

• Troy had a season-high 13 aces, the most since Nov. 12, 2021, when it had 15 against Georgia Southern.

• Tuesday was Troy’s first sweep of the season and the first since the Trojans swept App State in the Sun Belt Tournament in 2023.

• Troy moves to 36-0 all-time against Alabama State and 87-16 against schools from the SWAC.

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