NEW ORLEANS – Troy State claimed second place at the season-opening Kathy Trosclair Invitational after defeating Northwestern State early in the afternoon 3-0 and lost to the tournament champion Tulane 3-0, to finish the tournament 2-1.

Troy State jumped out quickly in their first match, jumping out to an 8-1 lead. The Lady Demons would come back to cut the lead to one at 10-9, before the Trojans took control on a service ace by Amy Kellogg to take a 11-9 lead, and would go on to win the game 15-11.

In the second game, senior setter Emily Larson stepped up with three of her eight kills in the match to lead the Trojans to a 15-9 win. After falling behind 9-7 in the third game, Larson took control again, getting the next two kills to tie the score at nine, and got the assist on Erika VanHootegem’s match ending kill to win 15-12.

"We played cautiously early in the third game," said Troy State head coach Ginger Lowe. "We were making more mistakes, and we didn’t get our tosses up on our serves because we were pushing for such good serves. But this win was better than the one yesterday, because we won a lot of the ugly points and we never gave up on the ball."

VanHootegem led the Trojans with 16 kills and added eight digs. Freshman Rachel Hassan had 11 kills and freshman Haven Triboulet chipped in with eight kills and a team-high 13 digs. Larson led the team in assists with 35.

Troy State hung tough to begin the second match. But, after an ace by VanHootegem to cut the Tulane lead to 4-2, the Green Wave went on a 11-1 run to end the game, including three service aces to claim a 15-3 win.

Tulane picked right up where they left off in game two, jumping out to a 3-1 lead. But Troy State fought back and took the a 4-3 lead on a kill by VanHootegem. The Green Wave came back and went on 12-4 to close out the second game, 15-8.

Tulane opened up the third game with a 7-0 run lead by two service aces by Erin Dobyanski and two blocks by Britney Hurst. The Trojans were able to close the gap to 13-6, but the Green Wave was too much as they held on to clinch the tournament title with a 15-6 win.

"We just got beat by a better team," said Lowe following the loss. "We missed too many serves and our passing broke down because they hit the ball so hard and we weren’t moving our feet to get into place."

Leading the effort for Troy State was All-Tournament team selections VanHootegem and Larson. VanHootegem led TSU with 11 kills and eight digs. Larson directed the offense, dishing out 29 assists. Triboulet added 10 kills and six digs for the Trojans.

Lindsey Bennett of Tulane was named MVP, leading the Green Wave with eight kills and 11 digs and Kim Sentmore added 14 kills and six digs.

Troy State, off to its best start since 1995 when they started 6-2, travels to Montgomery on Monday to take Alabama State. First serve is set for 7 p.m.