Michael Shipma
Sports Editor
All bad things must come to an end.
It took 16 games to do it, but the Troy volleyball team snapped a losing streak that dated back to Sept. 10. The streak ended with a 4-1 win over rival South Alabama in Trojan Arena on Tuesday night.
With the win, the Trojans (7-20, 1-9 Sun Belt) also picked up their first conference win of the season.
Prior to that win, Troy endured a pair of road losses in the Diamond State, losing 1-3 to the Little Rock Trojans on Friday and 0-3 against Arkansas State the next day. As Troy battled the out-of-state Trojans (9-15, 5-6 Sun Belt), the two sides traded wins in the first two sets before the home team ran away with the last two.
Little Rock scored the final four points of the first set to scrape by with a 25-23 win. Troy answered with a win of its own, as the Trojans used four kills from senior right side Sara Landis and eight Little Rock errors to even the score at one apiece.
Little Rock stormed back in the second half of the match, racing out to a 25-19 victory in the third set and a 25-13 win in the fourth.
Senior middle hitter Leah Causey led the Trojan attack, racking up 12 kills and a .368 attack percentage in four sets played. Landis followed up those numbers with 11 kills of her own, including four digs and a block.
Just under 24 hours later, the Trojans traveled to Jonesboro for a matchup against Arkansas State.
Troy never came close to keeping pace with the top team in the Sun Belt, as the Red Wolves (18-7, 10-1 Sun Belt) ran away with a 3-0 sweep of the visiting Trojans.
Arkansas State dominated in nearly every category and controlled the match from start to finish. The home team used a balanced attack and a steady rotation of players to wear down the Troy defense, putting up 43 kills as a team in three sets.
Nine different Red Wolves recorded at least one kill in the match. The Trojans didn’t help things, either, committing 17 errors that proved too much to overcome on the road.
Things finally turned around for Troy in a home match against rival South Alabama, as the Jaguars fell prey to a trio of Trojans putting up double-digit kills.
South Alabama went on a 9-3 run midway through the first set, lifting it to an early 1-0 lead over the home team. That lead didn’t last very long for a team fresh off a 3-1 win over Little Rock.
The Trojans took advantage of a whopping 14 Jaguar errors in the second set on their way to a comfortable 25-19 win, evening things out.
Freshman outside hitter Belle Waldrop helped the home side win 27-25 in the third set with three kills of her own, but it was 12 Jaguar errors that pushed Troy past South Alabama. The Trojans scored four of the last six in the crucial set, giving them a 2-1 lead.
The fourth and final set was a Trojan win by a more comfortable margin. The Trojans maintained a lead all the way through to the end of their first conference win.
Landis and Waldrop led the home team with 11 kills each, while Causey contributed 10 of her own.
Troy will try to start a win streak in its next two home games. The first will be against Appalachian State on Friday, Oct. 28.
Start time in Trojan Arena is scheduled for 6 p.m.
