ELON, NC – Rachel Hassan smacked 24 kills and came up with 12 digs as Troy State overcame Elon 28-30, 30-16, 30-28, 26-30, 15-11 in nonconference vollyball action Sunday afternoon at Alumni Gym.
The Phoenix (8-23) exploded to an early 5-0 advantage to capture the first game. Elon maintained the five-point advantage at 25-20, but the Trojans (20-10) stormed back to score six of the game’s next seven points to even the count at 26-26. The Phoenix outscored the Trojans 4-2 the rest of the way, tallying three points on serves by Sarah Farley, to take game one 30-28.
Troy State responded by claiming both game two and game three. The Trojans ran off to a commanding 22-10 advantage en route to a 30-16 victory in game two. Megan Murphy served up eight straight points, including four consecutive service aces, to stretch a 9-6 edge into a 17-6 cushion.
In the third game, Elon used four kills by Sarah Farley and two by Emily Hayes to build a 15-10 lead. Troy State took advantage of three Phoenix errors to ignite an 8-3 surge and tie the contest at 18-18. The game was tied at 20, 21, 24 and 26 before TSU scored four of the game’s final six points – two on Hassan kills – to escape with a 30-28 win and take a two games to one edge.
Paced by three kills from Hayes and two from Maria LaBrutto, the Phoenix battled to an early 11-8 lead in game four. The Trojans roared back to earn ties at 12, 13, 14 and 16 before Elon broke loose. Led by kills by Hayes and Sarah Haskell and a pair of service aces by Kate Hart, the Phoenix used an 8-1 spurt to take control at 24-17 en route to a 30-26 win to even the match at 2-2.
In the final game, the Trojans overcame an early 3-0 Phoenix advantage to tie the contest at 6, 7, 8 and 10 before collecting five of the game’s last six points for a 15-11 win to decide the match 3-2. Hassan logged three kills and served up three other points in the decisive game.
For the match, Troy State received 16 kills each from Haven Triboulet and Krysten Zaporski. Erika Leitzke led the Trojans with 61 assists and 15 digs while Murphy racked up a match-high five service aces.
Elon was paced by Hayes (20 kills), Farley (17 kills), LaBrutto (14 kills), Hart (29 assists), Katie Newby (28 assists, four service aces) and Katie Forman (15 digs).
The Phoenix will return to Big South Conference action Tuesday with a 7 p.m. match versus defending league champion Liberty at Alumni Gym.
Game Box Score
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