Sept. 30, 2003

Box Score

MACON, Ga. - Hilary Gary had a season-high 24 kills and Alyssa Whitehead provided 18 kills and 13 digs to help Samford dig out of a two games to none deficit and defeat Mercer 3-2 for their eighth-straight victory over the BearsTuesday night at Porter Gym.

Stefanie Pickett had 11 kills and 11 digs and Shannon Smith and Allison Pickett each came off the bench to provide the spark to help Samford win back-to-back matches for the first time this season and improve to 6-8 on the season.

"This was huge for us," said Samford head coach Kris Dorn. "We had a great practice yesterday and we worked hard on playing from behind. Allison (Pickett) provided blocks that we desperately needed and Shannon (Smith) rally made strong decisions."

The Bears (3-13) came out strong in game one using a .483 attack percentage and a pair of aces to take the opener 30-18. Samford hit just .098 in the first game committing nine hitting errors.

The Bulldogs began game two on a 5-1 run before Mercer tied the game at 14-14 the two teams' alternated runs until the score was 23-23. Mercer took its first lead of the game 24-23 on an over the net call and after a Samford hitting error the Bulldogs were forced to call time out with Mercer leading 25-23. After another Mercer point the Bulldogs drew back to 26-25 on a block by Pickett.

The Bulldogs tied the game at 27-27 on a Mercer hitting error, then a block by Whitehead, Pickett, and Keen gave Samford a 28-27 lead. Plummer tied the game at 28-28 before a kill by Smith game Mercer game point at 29-28.Back-to-back kills by Whitehead gave Samford game point at 30-29 but Plummer tied it at 30. The Bears had two more game points before Smith finally put away game two, 33-31, with a kill to put Mercer up two games to none.

Samford switched setters in game three and once again jumped out to a 5-1 lead. Back-to-back blocks gave Samford a 7-2 lead and earned Mercer head coach Alan Edwards a yellow-card for arguing. The Bulldogs took a 21-14 lead before closing out the game on a 9-4 run to win 30-18. Gary had eight kills in game three to help Samford to a match-high .351 hitting percentage.

Mercer opened up game four on a 6-2 run but the Bulldogs responded with an 11-3 run to force a Mercer timeout at 13-9. The Bulldogs continued with a 4-0 run after the timeout to lead 17-9. The Bears responded with a 7-2 run to pull within three points. Back-to-back Samford points forced Mercer's second timeout with the score 22-17. Samford went on to win game four 30-23 \to force the deciding fifth game.

The finale was a hard fought two point game that saw both teams make runs but in the end Shannon Smith had three kills including one on match-point to give Samford a 15-13 victory. The Bulldogs had three blocks in the final game to finish with 13 on the match.

Jennifer Smith led Mercer with 18 kills and 22 digs, Katie Plummer had 17 kills and 14 digs, and Liz Kane had 11 kills and 11 digs to lead three Bears post double-doubles. Mercer has now lost seven straight matches.

Both teams finished the match with 70 digs but Samford out-hit the Bears .238-.187 and held a 13-6 advantage in blocks to help turn the tide of the match.

Samford will return to conference action on Friday as it travels to Murray, Ky., for a 7 p.m. ET match against Murray State.