Sept. 3, 2005
Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team improved its record to 2-2 after winning back-to-back five-game matches on Saturday. The Bulldogs defeated Lipscomb in the first match of the day and then went on to beat Stetson.
The Bulldogs (2-2) notched their first victory of the season in an exciting match against Lipscomb (0-4) on Saturday morning. Samford defeated the Bisons 3-2, improving their record to 1-2.
"I liked what I saw today," said Samford head coach Michelle Durban. "Of course I'd like to see fewer errors out there, but you have to expect to see errors when you have a young team. I definitely saw improvement from last week, which is encouraging."
Lipscomb got things started with a 30-25 win in the first game. Grace Gilmore had four service aces, leading the Bisons, who totaled 10 service aces in the first game. Lipscomb hit .421, compared to Samford's match-high .400. Jessica Enderle had four kills for the Bisons, while Alex Scruggs and Jessica Turner each had three.
The Bulldogs came back and tied the match 1-1 with a 30-22 victory. Samford hit .318 over Lipscomb's .115. The Bulldogs had a total of 13 kills in the game as freshmen Ashley Klare, Sara Sears and Kirstein Sosnowski each had three. Sosnowski and Jen Powers each had three blocking assists in the game as well.
After dropping a tight third game 33-31, Samford came back to take the next two games. The Bulldogs took the fourth game 30-20 and hit .161 to Lipscomb's .040.
Samford held on to win the fifth game 15-10. The Bulldogs out-hit the Bisons .267 to .071 in the game and .220 to .113 in the match. Samford also had a total of 15.5 team blocks in the match, with Sosnowski and Powers combining for 12 blocking assists.
Following the first match, the Bulldogs took a short break before beginning their 3 p.m. contest against the Stetson Hatters. The second match also went the full five games as Samford won 24-30, 30-27, 30-22, 23-30, 15-13. Sears recorded a double-double in the match, with 21 kills and 17 digs. Freshman Jackie Jaszcz had 13 digs and led the Bulldogs with 38 assists.
"I really liked what I saw from Sara and Jackie," Durban said. "Sara had some great kills, and overall she had two great matches for us today. We've been working on some new things with Jackie all week, and it was good to see her implement those. She really had some great jump sets."
In the first game, Samford combined for a total of 12 kills and hit .152, while Stetson totaled 14 kills and hit .345, winning the game. Sophomore Angela Dempski had four kills while Sears had three for the Bulldogs.
Samford was able to come back to take the second game despite being out-hit by the Hatters, .267 to .194. The Bulldogs had a total of 14 kills in the second game.
Samford went up 2-1 in the match following the third game, hitting a match-high .318, compared to Stetson's .189. The Bulldogs combined for 22 kills in the game, as Sears and Dempski lead the way with seven and six, respectively.
Stetson forced a fifth game when they came back to take the fourth by a score of 30-23. The Hatters hit .237 to Samford's .085 and DeeAnn Dempsey had five digs in the game.
The Bulldogs sealed a victory after a thrilling 15-13 win in the fifth game of the match. Samford totaled eight kills and hit .133, while holding Stetson to a .000 hitting percentage.
"I think today we learned that we can come back, and it was good for our girls to have two five-game matches, back-to-back," said Durban. "I think our freshmen learned that you can't let up a little; that you have to play with the same level of intensity throughout the entire match. That's definitely something we'll take into our match against UAB."
The Bulldogs return to action on Tuesday when they take on non-conference opponent UAB. The match begins at 7 p.m. in Seibert Hall.
