TROY, Ala. — Troy volleyball defeated The Citadel in another sweep (25-17, 25-18, 25-12) to capture its second consecutive win on Friday.
Defense took center stage for Troy in a shift from Thursday's victory, anchoring the Trojans to another win. The Citadel's offense was shut down across all three sets, as Troy held the Bulldogs under the .100 hitting percentage in each set, with marks of .054, .067 and .069. Holding the Bulldogs to a .062 attack percentage marked the third time this season the Trojans have kept an opponent under .100, joining previous defensive shutdowns against Mercer (.013) and Alabama State (.014).
Third-year outside hitter Ashlynn Axtell led the offense by surpassing her previous career high of 12 kills — set against Florida Atlantic — with a 13-kill effort. The Austin native also logged a season-high hitting percentage of .765 on 17 total attempts with zero errors.
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Troy controlled the match from the start, holding onto the lead throughout and allowing only a single tie at 1-1 in the first set.
Set 1 — Troy 25, The Citadel 17
Axtell sparked the opening frame by collecting five kills on six attempts. Defensively, first-year libero Haley Nash logged eight digs to help hold the Bulldogs to .054 hitting. A key four-point run forced a Bulldog timeout, allowing Troy to maintain control and close out the set.
Set 2 — Troy 25, The Citadel 18
Olivia Kwiatkowski kept the Trojans' momentum going with back-to-back kills to open the frame. Meanwhile, the defense remained sharp, highlighted by a huge block from Sophie Ocampo.
Set 3 — Troy 25, The Citadel 12
An opening 4-0 run and a late 5-0 streak propelled Troy to a final-set victory and its second win in a row. The Trojans saved their best offensive output for last, hitting .387 in the set led by four kills apiece from Axtell, Calvillo and Kwiatkowski.
Quotable — head coach Josh Lauer
"Really proud of our performance tonight, and I thought we got better each set," Lauer said. "Our defensive intensity anchored us tonight. We came out with great defensive intensity and service pressure, our offense was up-and-down in the first set, but our defense and serving was really good. We continued to challenge our players to be more aggressive as the match went on, and the response was really good. I thought we played our best volleyball of the match in the third set. I am very proud of the players' focus and response to our challenge."
Notables
- Ashlynn Axtell topped her previously set career high in kills with 13.
- Brooke Dawson recorded her first career dig.
- Troy limited its opponent to under a .100 hitting percentage for the third time this year, joining previous matches against Mercer and Alabama State.
- Friday marked the second match this year in which Troy never trailed, with Alabama State being the only other occurrence.
- With the win, head coach Josh Lauer once more surpasses the .500 career win mark during his tenure with the Trojans.
Up next
Troy rounds out the Trojan Invitational with a match against Northwestern State on Saturday beginning at 3:30 p.m. The match will be streamed exclusively on ESPN+.
