TROY, Ala. – The App State volleyball team clinched a 3-2 (25-13, 21-25, 25-22, 23-25, 15-10) victory over Troy on the road in its penultimate regular season match on Thursday.
The Mountaineers will cap the regular season with their second match against the Trojans at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT) on Friday.
App State 3, Troy 2
Five Mountaineers made double-figure kills, led by freshman
Elise Marchal, who made a team and career high 15 kills. She also recorded a hitting percentage of .464 in addition to eight digs, and seven blocks. Marchal also served up three of the Mountaineers' six aces. Junior
Maya Winterhoff made a team high nine blocks and 13 kills. Freshman
Bella Hutchens made 12 kills, while senior
Lulu Ambrose slammed down 11 kills and made four digs and two blocks. Sophomore
Ava Leahy made 10 kills, recording a hitting percentage of .625, and made three blocks. Redshirt junior
Addison Heidemann recorded her ninth double-double of the season with a team high 48 assists and a team high 18 digs. Junior
Kenady Roper made 15 digs for the Mountaineers.
App State outpaced Troy in blocks, 12-6. The Mountaineers edged past the Trojans in kills (64-60), assists (59-56), digs (68-65), and aces (6-5).
App State took control of the first set as Winterhoff slammed down the first kill of the match. Troy only managed to tie the score once in the first set at 1-1. The Mountaineers pulled ahead, 4-1 after another Winterhoff kill and block from Leahy and Marchal. Building off back-to-back kills from Hutchens, the Mountaineers doubled the lead, 8-4. The Black and Gold pulled ahead, 15-7, building off kills from Leahy, Hutchens, Marchal, and Winterhoff as well as a solo block from Winterhoff and blocks from the duos of Ambrose and Winterhoff, and Winterhoff and Marchal. A trio of Hutchens kills brought the Mountaineers to a 23-13 lead. Heidemann set Winterhoff for a kill to bring App State to set point (24-13) and set Marchal up for a kill to clinch set point, 25-13. The Mountaineers held the Trojans to a mere seven kills in the first set.
In the second set, Troy established an early 4-0 lead. Leahy made a solo block to cut Troy's lead to 6-3, but the Trojans continued to pull ahead. Down 14-7, the Mountaineers went on a 7-0 run that included a block from Marchal and Winterhoff, and kills from Ambrose and Marchal knotted the score at 14 all. The Mountaineers met the Trojans at 18 all after back-to-back aces served up by Marchal. Heidemann set Leahy up for a kill to cut Troy's lead to two (22-20), but the Trojans took the set, 25-21.
The Mountaineers commanded the third set, maintaining a lead through the set. App State took a 3-0 lead after Hutchens opened the set with a kill that was followed by a Troy error and an ace from sophomore
Caroline Farthing. With a kill from Winterhoff and a pair of Troy errors, App State pulled ahead, 6-1. With a 5-0 run that featured back-to-back kills from Marchal, a block from Winterhoff and Ambrose, a block from Marchal and Winterhoff, and a Farthing ace, the Mountaineers extended the lead to 15-7. As Troy chipped away at the deficit, App State stayed a step ahead with a pair of kills from Leahy and a kill from Heidemann. Another set of consecutive kills from Marchal extended App State's lead to 23-28. A kill from Ambrose brought the Mountaineers to set point (24-20). Despite holding the Mountaineers to two set points, a kill from Marchal sealed the set for the Mountaineers, 25-22.
In the fourth set, App State and Troy knotted the score on seven occasions. The Mountaineers took an early 7-4 edge, building off a block from Marchal and Winterhoff, kills from Marchal, Ambrose, Leahy, and Heidemann. The Black and Gold broke a 13 all tie with a Troy error and consecutive Ambrose kills to pull ahead, 16-13. The Trojans managed to catch the Mountaineers at 20 all, but back-to-back kills from Winterhoff gave App State a 22-20 edge. Despite a last kill from Hutchens, the Trojans took the set, 25-23 after a late 5-1 run.
The Mountaineers and Trojans fought point-for-point, tying seven times and trading the lead five times in the fifth and final set. App State found momentum after back-to-back kills from Hutchens broke a 7-7 tie to pull ahead, 9-7. The Black and Gold pulled ahead 12-8 after a trio of Trojan errors. A block from the duo of Winterhoff and Marchal, followed by a kill from Leahy, brought the Mountaineers to set and match point (14-9). Troy managed to hold App State to one set point before Marchal slammed down a final kill to take the set, 15-10, and the match, 3-2.
