Sept. 24, 2003

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Stefanie Pickett had 15 kills to lead all players while Alyssa Whitehead recorded her sixth-straight double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs but it was not enough as Samford dropped its first ever Ohio Valley Conference match 3-2 to Jacksonville State on Wednesday.

Samford (4-8, 0-1 OVC) stormed out in game one using a .682 hitting percentage to win the opener 30-15. The Bulldogs had 15 kills and no errors while Jax State had 7 kills and 10 errors. JSU (8-3, 1-0 OVC) responded by taking games two and three 30-28 and 30-27. The Bulldogs fought back to win game four 30-26 but dropped game five 15-10.

Samford had a season-high 14 team blocks in the match. Hilary Gary and Courtney Keen each had one solo block and five assisted blocks. Kristin Berryman and Pickett each had four assisted blocks. Berryman added 12 kills and Callaway Logan had 12 digs for the Bulldogs.

Jacksonville State was led by Christina Cary who had 14 kills, Shari Weyer had 13 kills, and Jennifer Brenneman had 11 kills and 12 digs. Defensively, Kisha West had 15 digs for the Gamecocks.

The Bulldogs out hit the Gamecocks .194-.101 but Jacksonville State had 11 aces to just four for Samford. Aces turned the tide for JSU in game five. The Gamecocks led 8-6 when the teams switched sides. Brenneman then served back-to-back aces to give JSU a 10-6 after each team sided out another serve ace put the Gamecocks ahead 12-7 from there, the teams sided out the final six points to give JSU the 15-10 victory and its first OVC victory.

Samford will have a chance it even its OVC mark on Saturday when the Bulldogs travel to Nashville, Tenn., for a 2 p.m. match against Tennessee State.