Daniel Hunt
Staff Writer
While the football team enjoyed its homecoming weekend, the Trojan volleyball team traveled to the Carolinas for a 3-0 loss to Coastal Carolina on Friday and a 3-2 defeat to Appalachian State on Sunday.
Coming into the match, Coastal Carolina had the best conference record in the Sun Belt. This comes just a season after the Chanticleers were crowned conference champions in the 2016 season.
Troy looked to have the upper hand in the first set after a quick start, but the score became even at 16 points each. Troy couldn’t finish the set, managing to hit only 0.162 percent from the floor.
Coastal hit 0.379 percent with only two errors, winning the first set 25-21.
In the second set, Troy committed two straight errors that helped Coastal to a 5-2 run. The early run proved to be crucial as The Trojans played from behind for the entire set and eventually lost 25-21.
Coastal managed only a 0.121 hitting percentage in the third set, but Troy hit even lower with a 0.033 percent rate. For the third consecutive set, the Trojans committed seven errors.
Troy kept it close late in the third, but a 6-1 run by Coastal stole the momentum away. The Chanticleers won the set 25-22, and the match 3-0.
Senior Reina Terry, who had 14 assists in the match, moved to sixth all-time in career assists at Troy with 2,620.
In its final road match of the season, Troy played Appalachian State for the home team’s senior night.
A tight first set unfolded for the two teams as neither could break away further than three points. Tied at 25, Appalachian State ended the set 3-0 with consecutive kills and a Troy error.
Troy came out strong in the second set and established a 23-17 lead, the largest by either team up until that point. A service error by Appalachian State gave Troy its first set-win of the weekend, 25-20.
The two rivals traded 5-0 runs early in the third set before a timeout was called by Appalachian State. Troy ended the set on a 4-1 run, with all four points assisted by Kiara Barret.
The Trojans, looking to close out the match in the fourth, could not take advantage of their lead. Tied at 11, Troy gave up an 8-2 run, a hole it couldn’t dig itself out of. The Trojans lost the set 25-21.
The Trojans came out in the final set and jumped ahead with a 4-1 run. However, Troy could not keep the lead long before Appalachian State tied it back up at six. The set stayed even all the way until both teams were tied at 15.
The Mountaineers ended the game and set with consecutive points to pull off the comeback, stealing the set 17-15 and the match 3-2.
Four Trojans had over 10 kills, while Kiara Barrett led the team with 34 assists. Troy played arguably its most dominant set of the season in the third, hitting 0.484 percent with 17 kills and two errors. Troy led Appalachian State in every single stat category, despite the loss.
Troy will be back at home to host ULM on Friday, Nov. 3, at 6:30 p.m. This will be the first game of a four-game home stretch to end the season.
