Troy nearly finishes Noxon comeback
<p>Bench explodes on a fifth set ace with Rebecca Rotolo, left, Tana Thill and Sami Rohrich vs. Noxon Oct. 2.</p>
The Troy Lady Trojans transformed from helpless to hopeful to dominant before wilting to injury at home against Noxon on Thursday.
In a compelling five-set match, Troy opened slowly. Noxon’s 25-8 win in the first set suggested a drubbing, but the match turned out differently. Troy rallied before dropping the second set 25-20. Facing a sweep, the Lady Trojans won a nail-biting third set, 26-24. A 25-20 fourth set earned Troy a chance to steal a win in an abbreviated fifth set.
The comeback train was fully out of the station late in the fourth set when junior outside hitter Dakota Hake went down with a knee injury. Troy held on to the 16-14 lead at the time of Hake’s fall, but Troy ran out of gas in the fifth set, which Noxon won, 15-7.
Sami Rohrich led Troy with nine kills. Lady Trojan Allie Brown led all players with 24 assists, and teammate Aurora Becquart led all servers with five aces.
“We played really hard for two-and-a-half games,” Troy Coach Mandy Love said. “We picked up the tempo after the first set and competed well. Dakota ended up dislocating her kneecap and that was unfortunate. It really interrupted the momentum we had going there. We were on a roll.”
The Lady Trojans host Ronan at 4 p.m. Thursday.