Oct. 23, 2007
Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford volleyball team knocked off its second top-ranked Ohio Valley Conference opponent Tuesday night as they swept the Gamecocks of Jacksonville State in Seibert Gym, 3-0 (30-25, 31-29, 32-30). The Bulldogs came off a five-game win over No. 2 Murray State on Saturday to take down No. 1-ranked Jacksonville State Tuesday night. It is the first time since Oct. 9, 2001, the Bulldogs have defeated the Gamecocks and first time since Oct. 28, 1999, that Samford has swept its in-state rival. Samford improves to 13-10 (8-6 OVC) while Jacksonville State falls to 14-7 (11-3 OVC).
"Tonight was just a total team effort," Samford head coach Michelle Durban. "Of course, they focused in on Angela (Dempski), Sheriden (Stangohr) and Kirstein (Sosnowski) but all three of them were still able to do their jobs tonight.
"Defensively, we stepped up and it was something that they talked about before the match - being able to play defensive against Jacksonville State - and being even with them in digs and blocks shows that we are there now and we need to continue to play like that as we head into this weekend."
The Bulldogs were led by middle blockers senior Angela Dempski, junior Kirstein Sosnowski and sophomore Sheriden Stangohr. Stangohr lead her team in hitting with a .474 average while joining Dempski in posting 12 kills. Stangohr also posted five block assists while Dempski hit .393 and had two digs, one ace and a lock assist. Sosnowski tallied 11 kills and hit .429 while grabbing one assist, one dig and three block assists.
Freshman setter Hillary Fountain dished out 41 assists on the night while grabbing two kills, seven digs and one block assist. Freshman outside hitter Samantha Bland led the Bulldogs in digs with 16 while also having five kills one assist, one ace and one block assist. Junior Libero Courtney Gay helped out in the defensive effort with 15 digs and one assist while sophomore defensive specialist Sarah Gardner had eight digs. Junior outside hitter Sara Sears posted seven kills and seven digs with one block assist.
Samford begins a four-match road-swing this weekend as they travel to the state of Tennessee to take on two OVC foes in Tennessee Tech and Tennessee State. The Bulldogs will face off with the Golden Eagles of Tennessee State on Friday night at 7 p.m., in the Hooper Eblen Center before heading to the Music City on Saturday to take on Tennessee State at 2 p.m., at Kean Hall.
Samford 3, Jacksonville State 0
Samantha Bland put Samford on the board first in game one with a quick service ace while an error by Gardner gave Jacksonville State its first point. The Bulldogs would answer back quickly as Dempski and Stangohr scored kills to give Samford at two-point lead. Another Bulldog error brought the Gamecocks within one but Sears pushed the lead back out with a kill.
As JSU climbed back within one again, the Gamecocks would commit a service error to put the Bulldogs back ahead by two. Eventually the game was tied at nine, then again at ten and twice more at 11 and 12, before Samford took control with four consecutive kills by Sosnowski, Dempski and Bland. The Bulldogs pushed the lead out slowly, leading by as seven at one point. The Gamecocks time the lead to five but that would be as far as they would get before Samford would take game one, 30-25.
Jacksonville State jumped out to the earlier two-point lead in the second game, but quickly committed two errors to get Samford in the game and tie it up at two. A kill by Stangohr gave the Bulldogs their first lead of the game and a Gamecock error extended that lead to two. Three Bulldog errors put JSU back on top but not for long as Samford took the lead back on kills by Stangohr and Sears and a block by Stangohr and Sosnowski.
A JSU error extended the Samford lead to three, but the Gamecocks would come back and tie the game at 10. However, with a total team effort, the Bulldogs would take over once more, leading by as much as five. Late in the game, JSU trimmed the lead to one and with the Samford looking at game-point, forced a tie at 29. However, a kill by Dempski would put the Bulldogs back on top and a JSU error gave Samford game two, 31-29.
Game three turned out to be another close one but not before Samford could grab a quick three-point lead with a kill by Dempski and two Gamecock errors. JSU finally got on the board with a kill by Rebekah Nichols and trimmed the lead to one with another kill by Kara Slater. Dempski answered back with a kill to extend the lead but JSU would come back and tie the game at five. The Gamecocks took their first lead of game three on three back-to-back kills by Abbey Breit but Sosnowski would return the favor to cut the lead to two.
The Bulldogs charged back to tie the game at 12 and they would have to fight through two more ties and a four-point deficit to catch back up. Samford did just that and closed the gap to one and with a service error by JSU's Brittney Whitten, the Bulldogs tied it at 29. A kill by Stangohr gave Samford the lead for the first time since the beginning of the game and after an error to tie it at 30, the Bulldogs scored back-to-back kills off Sosnowski and Dempski to take game three, 32-30.
