TROY, Ala. - Stephanie Wardach and Lacy Bates
paced the ULM offense on Friday night, however, it was the Troy volleyball team
who claimed a 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-20) Sun Belt Conference match inside Trojan
Arena.
Wardach recorded nine of ULM's (3-18, 0-6) 32
kills on the night, while Bates smashed eight of her own and recorded a
team-high .500 attacking percentage. Meghan McCoy and Christy Tribble added 27
assists and 12 digs, respectively.
Kayla Giles and Devin Von Pingel recorded
eight and seven kills, respectively, to lead Troy (7-10, 3-3) in the victory.
Caroline Alexander finished with 16 assists and a trio of Trojan defenders
accumulated seven digs apiece.
The Warhawks rattled off a 6-1 run to take a
17-14 lead after finding themselves down by a pair of points, 13-11, midway
through the opening frame. Following a timeout, Troy battled back behind a pair
of kills from Brittany McClelland to knot the score at 22-22. The Trojans would
take the frame after a multitude of Warhawk attacking errors in the waning
moments of the frame gave them a first set win, 25-22. In the frame there were
12 scoring ties and four lead changes between the two schools.
Troy used a pair of 5-0 runs to push its lead
to 10-4 in the beginning of the second stanza. Wardach and McCoy connected on
five kills in the frame to keep ULM within striking distance, but it was Troy's
ridiculous .609 attacking percentage that was too much to handle. The Trojans took
the second set, 25-14, and 2-0 lead in the match.
Vicky Rogoschewsky tallied a pair of kills to
help Troy open with a 7-0 lead in the opening portion of the third frame.
Despite the deficit, the Warhawks were able to cut the discrepancy to a point,
18-17, behind back-to-back Tribble service aces. The Trojans' Gilroy finished
with a flurry of kills down the stretch to give Troy the straight set victory.
In the stanza, Bates recorded four of her eight kills for ULM.
ULM continues its three-match road trip with
a Sunday showdown against South Alabama at 1:00 p.m. before battling with
Louisiana-Lafayette on Monday at 7:00 p.m.
