The Troy Trojans lead 24-23 over the host team LSU Tigers in an electric fifth-set tiebreaker.
Setter Janelle Stuempfig sets the ball to the left side, and phenom Tori Hester crushes her 24th kill of the match to finish off the Tigers in the Trojans’ eighth match-point opportunity.
Troy opened its regular season at the LSU tournament against Maryland this past Saturday and struggled to score effectively. The 3-0 loss lit a fire under the Trojans and inspired excellent play for the rest of the tournament.
Troy faced New Hampshire in its second match of the tournament, and Hester terrorized the Wildcats throughout the match with an astounding 29 kills, a new Troy record for a four-set match.
Setters Jordan Sinness and Stuempfig were also excellent, registering assist totals of 29 and 22, respectively.
Ella Broadhead led the team with six blocks in the commanding 3-1 victory over New Hampshire.
On Sunday, the Trojans took on the Tigers in their final matchup of the tournament.
Troy won the first set 25-21 through its high-powered outside hitters -- Hester’s eight kills and Amiah Butler’s six overwhelmed the LSU defense up front.
The Trojan offense sputtered in sets two and three, tallying more errors than kills for a negative hitting percentage and being outscored 25-18 and 25-8.
Troy regrouped in the fourth set, securing the must-win set 25-16 by shutting down the opposing hitters. Freshman Olivia Kwiatkowski also recorded a career-high five kills in the fourth set to force a tiebreak.
The fifth set was highly contested throughout with both teams receiving multiple match point opportunities.
Hester eventually sealed the Trojan victory 25-23 with her 24th kill of the match and her sixth of the set. Freshman Kalina Calvillo also snagged her first four career kills in the fifth set.
Other notable performances included a career-high eight blocks for middle hitter Sydney Austin while Stuempfig and Sinness both topped 20 sets for the second consecutive match.
Troy is now 2-1 all-time against LSU with their previous victory coming against them in 2021.
Troy fell in straight sets to Auburn last Tuesday in a sloppy offensive outing. Auburn’s front row defenders produced an alarming 10 blocks while holding Troy to .156 hitting in the one-sided outing.
Troy’s shaky hitting resulted in 21 errors in the three set shutout.
After dropping the first set 25-19, oy fell behind 11-0 to start the second set. Despite an admirable comeback effort, the deficit was already to great to overcome and Troy conceded the second set 25-19.
Auburn’s hitters closed the third set out with a combined 18 kills on a .500 hitting percentage to secure the win 25-18.
Troy will next take the court to play their home opener against Cal-Poly on Sept. 7 at 2 p.m. in Trojan Arena.
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