Troy volleyball smashes way to record-breaking 11-2 start
The Troy Trojan volleyball team is off to a record-shattering 11-2 start to the season and opened conference play with a 3-1 win over the Arkansas State Red Wolves on Thursday night. The win gave Troy its first 1-0 start to Sun Belt play since 2014.
The 11-2 start is the best in Troy’s Division I history, dating back to 1993. Head coach Josh Lauer attributes the early success to a mental decision made back in January.
“We started talking in January about doing things here that have never been done before,” Lauer said. “We didn’t shy away from that as a team. If we want to do something special, we have to dream big and we have to be crazy enough to make those dreams happen. They committed to their work over the spring, committed to workouts in the summertime and in the gym with no coaches.”
Troy’s victory over Arkansas State was just the second win against the Red Wolves in 20 tries and first since 2013. Arkansas State has been a 20-win team in four of the past five seasons and are a consistent title contender.
“This was a good test, they’re well coached and have some good athletes,” Lauer said. “I’m really proud of the way we fought tonight.”
Coming into the match with the Red Wolves, Troy had won the first set in 10 consecutive matches. A slow start put an end to that streak on Thursday.
Troy quickly fell behind 13-7 after a 6-1 Arkansas State run. Troy came within one with a 10-5 run but the Red Wolves finished the set with a Macy Putt kill. Troy’s Cheyenne Hayes, the Sun Belt leader in kills per set with 4.56, had five kills in the set.
A fast start and a strong finish for Troy evened the match in set two, though. The Trojans jumped out to a 4-0 start, but it wasn’t long before Arkansas State had the set tied at 12.
With a slim 21-19 lead late, a 4-1 run started by an Arkansas State error ended the set with a 25-20 Troy win. The Red Wolves gave up seven points in errors alone in the set, while Troy had just one serve error after committing four in the first set.
Set three was tightly contested up until Troy took three of four points to grab a 23-19 lead. Two vicious kills from Hayes later and the Trojans clinched set three and a 2-1 match lead. Hayes had four kills in the set while Ashley Guenveur led with five.
After a 4-4 start to the fourth set, Troy dropped the gas pedal and steamrolled the Red Wolves the rest of the way. Launching off of a 10-1 run, the Trojans took the set 25-14 and won the match three sets to one for Troy’s second ever victory over the Sun Belt stalwart.
Hayes finished the match with a team-high 16 kills while Amara Anderson had 47 assists.
“I thought our passing was very consistent and that allowed Amara (Anderson) to mix things up,” Hayes said following the win. “That confused the Arkansas State defense and gave us an advantage.”
Strong passing has been Troy’s recipe for success thus far.
“We knew we had a chance to be a really good serving team and we knew were very solid from a passing standpoint,” Lauer said. “If you can do those two things, you can create chaos on the other side of the net and get easy balls back.”
Anderson has played a big role in Troy’s success as the facilitator of the Trojan offense. Anderson’s 11.4 assists per set coming into Thursday’s game ranks 10th nationally.
“I definitely couldn’t do it without the hitters,” Anderson said after the win. “They’re really working hard and our passing is definitely the best I’ve ever been with.”
The Trojans are off to a 7-0 start inside Trojan Arena and had a solid turnout of students on the baseline.
“The energy has been great and the students continue to rally behind our team, which is really fun,” Lauer said.
Troy stays at home next for a Friday night date with the 2-10 Little Rock Trojans. The match will start at 6:30 and will air on ESPN+.