Aug. 29, 2003

Box Score

NEW ORLEANS, La. - Kristin Berryman had 16 kills and 12 digs while Hilary Gary added 15 kills and Shannon Smith had 14 kills but it was not enough as Samford fell 3-2 against Butler in its opening match of the 2003 season in a tournament hosted by the University of New Orleans on Friday.

Butler took game one 30-19 as Kali Carter had a match-high 23 kills and 11 digs. Megan Knightly added 16 kills and a match-high 15 digs.

Samford rebounded taking the second game 30-25. The teams split games three and four with Butler again winning 30-19 and Samford evening the match with a 30-28 victory. Butler then took the deciding game 15-9.

The difference in the match was at the net where Butler held a 15-5 blocking advantage. Areal Bienemy had nine blocks to lead her team. Bienemy also had 11 kills. Butler's blocking clearly effective the Samford offensive as the Bulldogs hit just .143 as a team. Smith led Samford with a .189 percentage on 37 attacks. In the deciding game, Samford hit -.091 with five kills and seven errors in 22 attacks.

Samford will try to rebound against tournament host New Orleans in a Noon match on Saturday. The Bulldogs will wrap up the tournament at 5 p.m. against Southeastern Louisiana who defeated UNO on Friday.