Samford University
Eastern Kentucky*
Volleyball Falls To Eastern Kentucky, 3-1
10.6.07 | Women's Volleyball
Oct. 6, 2007
RICHMOND, Ky. ---- The Samford volleyball team fell to Eastern Kentucky Saturday afternoon, giving Eastern Kentucky its first Ohio Valley Conference win and keeping the Colonels undefeated in the series with the Bulldogs. EKU took the match, 3-1 (30-24, 22-30, 30-27, 30-28), while the Bulldogs fall to 8-9, 3-5 OVC.
Against the Colonels, sophomore middle blocker Sheridan Stangohr led the Bulldogs in kills with 16 while grabbing one dig, two block solos and one assist. Senior middle blocker Angela Dempski was second in kills with 15. She also served up on ace and posted two digs, one block solo and six block assists. Junior outside hitter Sara Sears posted another double-double, her ninth of the season, grabbing 10 kills and 11 assists while serving up one ace and getting one block assist.
Junior middle blocker Kirstein Sosnowski had seven kills, two assists and two block assists while freshman outside hitter Samantha Bland has six kills and 10 digs, two aces and two block assists. Freshman setter Hillary Fountain posted 43 assists while also having eight digs, four block assists, and one kill and junior setter Jackie Jaszcz posted eight assists, four digs and one block assist. Junior Libero Courtney Gay grabbed 14 digs and one ace while sophomore defensive specialist Sarah Gardner added 13 digs and sophomore outside hitter Katie Luckman added one dig. The Bulldogs out blocked the Colonels 13-8 and again out hit their opponent for the second consecutive match.
Samford returns home next weekend, Oct. 12-13, as they take on OVC foes Southeast Missouri and Eastern Illinois. Match play begins on Friday night with Southeast Missouri at 7 p.m., and wraps up Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. with Eastern Illinois.
Eastern Kentucky 3, Samford 1
Eastern Kentucky jumped out to an early two-point lead in the first game but Samford quickly got on the board with a kill by Sears and an ace by Dempski to tie the game. The Colonels answered back with back-to-back kills, but the Bulldogs took over on two EKU errors and a block by Sosnowski and Stangohr. The game was tied at five and six, then again at eight and nine before Samford took a two-point lead on another EKU error and a block by Dempski and Jaszcz. However, the Colonels would take over and the Bulldogs would trail by six, giving the Colonels game one, 30-24.
The Bulldogs were handed their first two points in game two as Eastern Kentucky committed two errors to put Samford on top. The Colonels finally got on the board but the Bulldogs took control and quickly charged to an eight-point lead on kills by Stangohr and Dempski and a couple of back-to-back blocks by Dempski and Fountain and Sears and Stangohr. Samford completely dominated game two, leading by as much as nine at several points late in the game. Eastern Kentucky cut the lead to seven several times but Samford would go on to win game two, 30-22.
Samford took the early lead again in the third game on an EKU error and a kill by Dempski. The Bulldogs committed an error to give the Colonels their first point. Samford continued to hold onto the lead for most of the game but only by a small margin of two. Later in the game, EKU tied it at 25 and went on a 5-2 run to win game three, 30-27.
After a long rally, Samford won the first point of game four and gained another on an EKU error to go ahead, 2-0, but the Colonels answered back with a 6-0 run to take a four-point lead. With a few Colonel errors and back-to-back kills by Stangohr the Bulldogs climbed back within one and trailed close behind the EKU before tying the game at 15. However, EKU would go on a 4-0 run to climb back on top by four. Samford eventually charged back to cut the lead to one and then tied it 27, but Eastern Kentucky would go on to win game four, 30-28.
