Sept. 25, 2001

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Samford's Whitney Miller and Birmingham-Southern's Miljana Lazarevic each recorded the 1,000th kills of their respective careers as Samford defeated Birmingham-Southern 3-2 in front of a crowd of 400 at the Striplin Center on Tuesday.

Miller became the fourth Bulldog player to reach the 1,000 kill milestone on her way to her fourth double-double of the season. Miller led all players in the match with 18 kills and 19 digs. Lazarevic became the first Panther to ever reach the milestone as she posted 16 kills.

Samford (3-8) won a game of runs in the opening game of the match 30-27. The Bulldogs used a 3-0 run to break an 8-8 tie, but BSC responded with an 8-0 run to take a 16-11 lead. Samford immediately answered with a 4-0 run to bring the score to 16-15. BSC later used a 3-0 run to tie the game at 26. With the game knotted at 27, Samford took the last three points on a solo block by Miller, a service ace by Abby Miner, and an assisted block by Angela Smith and Hilary Gary.

Birmingham Southern (4-7) took games two and three 30-24 and 30-20. The Panthers used a 12-3 run in game two to take a 23-13 lead. Samford battled back to 26-22, before Allie Sublin recorded one of her eight kills on game point. In game three, the Panthers used a 14-4 run to close out the game after being tied at 16. Stephanie Harrington recorded 13 kills and a BSC school record four solo blocks. Danielle Graff recorded a double-double with 10 kills and a team-high 17 digs. Rachel Malmborg had a team-high 17 kills to pace the Panthers.

Samford turned the momentum around in game four and went on to take the final two games 30-27 and 15-8. The Bulldogs raced out to a 4-0 lead and then built an 11-3 advantage in game four. The Bulldogs kept an eight-point edge through 23-15 before BSC made a dramatic comeback to tie the game at 27. Miner recorded the biggest of her 17 kills to kept SU on top 28-27. A block by Krista Kettering and Shellie Ouldhouse gave Samford game point and a BSC hitting error tied the match at two games each.

The Bulldogs fell behind 0-3 and 3-6 in the finale before going on a 12-2 run to win the match. A service ace by Pickett knotted the game at 7-7 and from there the Bulldogs played their best volleyball of the night to end the match on an 8-1 run.

Miner finished with her third double-double of the season adding 12 digs to her 17 kills. Smith posted 11 kills, Stefanie Pickett added 13 digs and five blocks, and Kettering had three aces and 44 assists for the Bulldogs.

Samford will return home on Saturday to face Troy State in the Atlantic Sun opener for both teams. The match will begin at 2 p.m. at Seibert Hall.