Troy’s volleyball team nabbed two more crucial Sun Belt Conference victories this past weekend while on the road against Southern Miss.
The Trojans won a pair of five-set thrillers in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, to position themselves for a stretch run heading into the conference tournament.
Outside hitter and team leader Tori Hester was absolutely unstoppable as she lit up the Golden Eagles with two incredible hitting performances. Hester crushed 33 kills in Thursday’s match and added another 30 during Friday’s match. For her efforts, Hester was named the Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Week.
Hester’s massive kill totals, which helped the Trojans secure two razor-tight five-set victories, propelled her to the Troy program all-time kills record.
“[Hester is] the all-time leader in kills,” head coach Josh Lauer said in a Troy Athletics press release.“We’re so thankful and happy for her. She deserves all the accolades. She’s a great player and absolutely one of the all-time best in Troy history.”
Hester’s 1,682 kills and 1,929.5 points stand alone atop Troy’s all-time leaderboard, and her active streak of consecutive double-digit kill performances continues to be the longest known active streak in all of NCAA women’s volleyball as she extended it to 46.
Hester wasn’t the only Trojan with new personal accolades as Sara Bates surpassed her previous single-match kill total of three in both matches with nine and eight for the injury-riddled Troy offense.
Setter Janelle Stuempfig set a Troy season-best 45 assists on Thursday and recorded a new personal best 20 digs in Friday’s match.
Other notable performances included freshman Kalina Calvillo’s sixth and seventh consecutive double-digit kill outings and several clutch service runs from Olivia Grantham in both 3-2 victories over the Golden Eagles.
Lauer was especially pleased with the team’s defensive performance and intensity as they overcame a 20-11 deficit in the fourth set of Friday’s match to force a tiebreak.
“It was just another all-out amazing team performance tonight,” Lauer said.“From being down so big in the fourth set and Olivia Grantham coming in and making that service run, it was just a really phenomenal team effort tonight.
“The defensive effort by everyone was great. I couldn’t be more proud of all of our players and how they played for each other.”
Troy has now won its last four matches against Southern Miss and carries a four-game win streak into its final two matches of the season before tournament play against the Appalachian State Mountaineers.
The 7-7 Trojans will take on the 10-2 Mountaineers -- who lead the Sun Belt Eastern division -- in Trojan Arena on Nov. 14 at 6 p.m.
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