STATESBORO – Cheyenne Hayes tallied 21 kills, 12 digs and three aces to lead Troy to a 3-2 Sun Belt volleyball victory over Georgia Southern Friday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.

Eagle of the Match
Skylar Ball posted a career-high 21 kills to go along with five blocks and hit a match high .447 for the Eagles (7-13, 2-4).

Stat of the Match
GS fell to 1-6 in five-set matches this season.

Key moments
The Trojans (9-11, 3-4) never trailed in the fifth and jumped out to a 4-1 lead. A 5-2 spurt pushed the margin to 10-5, and the Eagles never got closer than four points. Two of the Trojans' 11 aces came in the fifth with both hitting the top of the net and crawling over and into the open court.

A block by Ball and Madison Brown gave the Eagles set point in the first, but a GS attack error tied the score. Logan Page followed with a kill for Troy and then was in on a block with Hayes to give the Trojans the set, 26-24.

Quotables from coach Dustin Wood
"We'll get good performances at times, and then I think the pressure of the moment gets to them, and I think we lose focus at times. They have to learn that they have proven that they are capable of doing it, and you have to go out each night and play. Troy was pretty scrappy tonight and I think they had the will and we didn't. We talked about that in the locker room so we'll see how we come out tomorrow night."

"The passing numbers weren't great, but they weren't bad and they were enough to win. Our middles were our strong point tonight. We struggled setting and with our pins a little bit. They just didn't execute, but we addressed it, and hopefully, they will have a better match tomorrow."

Next Up
The Eagles play host to South Alabama Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in Hanner Fieldhouse, and the contest will air on ESPN+.