Oct. 19, 2002

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Alyssa Whitehead killed match point for her 24th kill of the afternoon as she led four Bulldogs in doubles figures in Samford's 3-2 victory over Jacksonville in Atlantic Sun volleyball action Saturday afternoon at Seibert Hall.

Whitehead recorded her tenth double double of the season with a career-high 24 kills and 12 digs. Hilary Gary had 20 kills. She has recorded 20 or more kills in four of the last five matches. Stefanie Pickett posted her second-straight double double with 13 kills and 13 digs. Brooke Berryman added 14 kills for Samford who improves to 10-11 on the season and 2-5 in the Conference.

Radka Dimitrova led Jacksonville (9-12, 4-4 A-Sun) with 26 kills on 64 swings. Candice Rose and Brooke Ahrens had 14 and 10 kills respectively. Each teams libero had a solid match. Kelly Ryals had 16 digs for Jacksonville and Eileen Hatfield had a career-high 12 digs for Samford.

Samford won the first game 30-22 on the strength of a .387 attack percentage. The Bulldogs looked like they might run away with game two as they built a 15-6 lead. Jacksonville however began to chip away at the lead and tied the game at 21. The teams sided out point for point until the game was tied at 30. JU scored on a Samford setting error and a kill by Dimitrova to win 32-30.

In game three, Samford again jumped out to a big lead at 16-7. The Bulldogs lead 28-19, before Jacksonville scored eight-straight points to make the score 28-27. A serving error gave Samford game point and a JU attack error gave Samford the 30-27 win and a 2-1 lead. Jacksonville's blocking dominated game four as the Dolphins won 30-26. JU out blocked Samford 16-9.5 in the match.

In game five, Samford raced out to an 8-4 lead at the side change, but JU fought back to tie the game at 11. Gary and Whitehead added the final two kills as Samford took four of the final five points to win the match.

With the victory, Samford avoids being eliminated from the Atlantic Sun Tournament. Samford still has an up hill climb to reach the tournament but the Bulldogs have control of their destiny with four conference matches left to play.

Samford will face Mercer on Tuesday in a 6 p.m. CT match in Macon, Ga. Jacksonville will not play again until Friday when it travels to Belmont.