TROY, Ala.—Troy defeated CSU Bakersfield 3-1 in the first match of the Trojan Invitational for the Roadrunners Friday night.

“I am pleased with the way we fought today,” said CSUB director of volleyball Giovana Melo.

CSUB scored the first three points of the first set, but the Trojans responded with a 9-1 run to take the lead. Troy (3-2) would force nine Roadrunner hitting errors as the Trojans took the first set 25-10.

Down 9-4 to start the second set, CSUB rattled off the next four points to climb to within one. Troy scored four of the next four to lead 13-9.  The Trojans pushed the lead to 17-12 when the Roadrunners scored three of the next four to make it 18-15. CSUB went down by five later in the set, but chipped away and cut it to 23-20 on Sydney Haynes' kill.  Symone Shaw's kills gave the Trojans set point at 24-20 before Darby Griff's kill gave Troy the set 25-20.

The Roadrunners sped to a 10-5 lead to begin the third set.  CSUB held the Trojans to .000 (7-7-34) hitting during the stanza to get back into the match and earned a 25-16 win. The fourth set featured five ties. At 8-8, the Trojans earned five of the next six points to take a 12-9 advantage.  

A Kelsee Sawyer kill returned the serve to the Roadrunners down three.  CSUB chipped away and tied the match at 15 when Blair Winston committed an attack error. A Leah Causey attack error returned the lead to CSUB, but the Roadrunners' ninth service error of the match tied the score for the sixth time.

The teams exchanged points. With the score 17-17, Winston's kill broke the tie for the Trojans. CSUB tied it up again on a Troy ball handling error.  The teams again traded points. At 19-19, Carol Grasso earned the lead for the Roadrunners with a kill.  Griff's kill created a 20-20 score. A CSUB attack error put the Trojans ahead by one. Kortney Freeland tied it for the Roadrunners with a kill.

Lauren Long put Troy ahead again with a kill but a service error by the Trojans made it 22-22. Griff's 13th kill of the night returned the lead to Troy. Winston's 12th kill earned the Trojans triple match point. CSUB called timeout and found Grasso for a kill. The Trojans committed a ball handling error to tie it up at 24. Troy went back to Winston who put down a kill for fourth match point.  Winston ended the match with a cross court kill.

Winston led the Trojans with 14 kills. Griff had 13 kills and hit .619 (13-0-21) for the match. Sophie Flemion recorded her first career double-double as she had a career high 37 assists and added 10 digs in the match. Urias paced the Roadrunners with 14 kills. Freshman libero Morginne Demarco" href="http://www.gorunners.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=210262909&DB_OEM_ID=13300" data-mce-href="http://www.gorunners.com/ViewArticle.dbml?ATCLID=210262909&DB_OEM_ID=13300">Morginne Demarco charted 14 digs.

“We still have a long way to go,” Melo said. “We have a lot of things to fix but I saw a team who has a lot of heart!”

The Roadrunners (0-5) return to the Trojan Invitational Saturday. The Roadrunners face East Tennessee State at 9:30 a.m. (CDT) followed by a 3 p.m. (CDT) against Alabama State.

CSU Bakersfield will open the home portion of the 2015 slate on Oct. 8 when CSUB hosts UTRGV at 7 p.m. Tickets are available at Vallitix.com.

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