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FOLEY, Ala – On a night where Cheyenne Hayes became the all-time kills leader in program history, the Trojans’ season comes to an end after a loss to Texas State in three straight sets (25-21. 25-19, 25-19) in the conference tournament quarterfinals on Friday night

Needing only five kills coming into the night to break the all-time kill record in Troy program history, Cheyenne Hayes led Troy (17-12) with 12 kills and four service aces in the match. Hayes finishes her Troy career with 1,452 kills and as one of the most accomplished Troy volleyball players. Julia Brooks followed Hayes with 10 kills on .444 hitting, and Amara Anderson finished the night with 23 assists.

“This team is full of winners through and through,” head coach Josh Lauer I was also extremely happy for Cheyenne. Becoming the all-time kills leader is an unbelievable accomplishment, and she is without question one of the greatest Troy volleyball players of all time.”

Texas State (19-11) was led by Janell Fitzgerald who had a match-high 13 kills on .524 hitting. In addition, Sun Belt Conference setter of the year, Emily DeWalt, had a match-high 33 assists. As a team, Texas State hit .393 and finished with 8.5 blocks compared to .190 hitting and five blocks by the Trojans.

“That was a competitive match tonight against a really tough Texas State team, Lauer said. “I was proud of our entire team effort tonight. Of course, defeat always stings, but that is a testament to how much this means to our team. Our senior class has changed the direction of our Troy Volleyball forever, and if this is the last volleyball match we play this season, they have nothing to hang their heads about.”

Set 1: Texas State was in control for much of the first set as Troy only saw the lead once in the set and was tied twice. A Halston Hillier kill got Troy within one point to make it 10-9, but the Bobcats were able to go on three points run, and the Trojans were unable to close the gap the rest of the set.

Set 2: The second saw not only saw the Trojans connect for 15 kills, the most of any of the three sets for them, but it was the set-in which Hayes broke the kill record. Julia Brooks had six kills, yet the six errors comminated for the Trojans hurt them to tie the match at one set all. After being down five, Troy was able to cut the lead to two with an Anderson kill, and later on, a Hayes ace made it a three-point game at 21-18, but the Bobcats would score four of the last five points to win the set 25-19

Set 3: Troy did all they could to extend the match, but with the score tied 11-11, the Bobcats were again able to go on a run of five points and not look back. The Trojan’s eight errors in the third set were the most of the three

and Texas State closed things 25-19.

Notable:

Troy finishes the 2021 season with a 17-12 record, where they beat three Power, five opponents, for the first time in program history (Alabama, LSU, Virginia Tech)

Head coach Josh Lauer is now 73-72 in his career leading the Trojans. He is the first coach in Trojan volleyball history to lead the Trojans to three consecutive winning seasons in conference play.

Hayes continued to showcase her talents this season.  She was the best serve-receive pass six rotation player in the conference with a 2.39 passing average (4pt scale) and finished the season with double-digit kills in 13 of 27 total matches this season.  Hayes also accumulated six double-doubles on the season. Hayes now has 1651 kills in her career, which puts her first all-time in kills in Trojan program history. In addition, Cheyenne Hayes became the fifth Trojan in program history to record 1,000 kills and 1,000 digs in her career.

In the match against Louisiana, Amara Anderson surpassed Megan Henderson to become the Trojan’s all-time leader in assists during the rally-scoring era. Anderson is now up to 4,467 assists in her career and needs 507 assists to become the all-time assist leader in program history.  This season Anderson averaged 10.52 assists/set (2nd overall) and .45 services aces/set (3rd overall); she also guided the Troy offense to 12.95 kills/set (5th overall). Anderson’s 1052 total assists this season helped her surpass the 3000-career assist mark for her career. Anderson’s 59 assists in Troy’s win over Georgia Southern is the most by a player in the Sun Belt Conference this year.

Julia Brooks is the only player in the conference to be Top 10 in four statistical categories (Hitting %, Kills/Set, Blocks/Set & Points/Set) and is the only Middle Hitter in the Top 10 in the Kills/Set and Points/Set categories and accumulated double-digit kills in 19 of 27 matches. She led the Trojans in kills with 325 on the year.  She had a career-high 24 kills in the win against Georgia Southern in the last outing.

Despite only playing 15 total matches and only 12 matches during conference play due to injury, Tori Hester still accumulated six double-doubles for the season. Additionally, Hester finished 11th in Points/Set and 6th in Digs/Set among a talented group of actual six rotation pin attackers during conference play.  Hester also racked up double-digit kills in 8 of her 15 total matches this season.