Sept. 8, 2007
Box Score
CHICAGO, Ill. ---- The Samford volleyball team wrapped up play in the DePaul Invitational Saturday, grabbing two wins over familiar opponents. The Bulldogs defeated South Alabama in the morning match, 3-1 (30-22, 22-30, 30-28, 30-22), and Kennesaw State in the evening match, 3-0 (30-15, 30-21, 30-27). The Bulldogs now improve to 5-4 on the season.
The All-Tournament team will be announced at the conclusion of the tournament tonight. Check www.samfordsports.com later for a listing of the DePaul Invitational All-Tournament team.
Samford will have a week to prepare for their next action on the court. The Bulldogs will be on the road again next weekend, Sept. 14-15, as they begin conference play at Murray State on Friday and UT-Martin on Saturday.
Samford 3, South Alabama 1
In game one with South Alabama, Samford fell behind but quickly caught up to tie the game at five with a little help from some Jaguar error and kills by freshman outside hitter Samantha Bland, freshman setter Hillary Fountain, and junior outside hitter Sara Sears. The Bulldogs then took over and never looked back. Samford charged ahead, leading by as much as eight, and taking game one, 30-22.
Samford scored the first point in game two, but South Alabama quickly answered back and jumped on top to take the lead. The Bulldogs trailed the Jaguars the whole game but kept it close for while, not letting South Alabama get ahead by more than four at for most of the game. Despite efforts by senior middle blocker Angela Dempski, sophomore middle blocker Sheriden Stangohr, junior middle blocker Kirstein Sosnowski, the Jaguars extended the lead to eight and won game two, 30-22.
Game three had a similar start to game two as the Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead. The Jaguars kept it close, as the Samford only led by a margin of three points most of the game. However, the Bulldogs would go on to win game three, 30-28.
The Bulldogs came out in the fourth game ready to take away their fourth game of the season, and that is just what they did. Jumping out to the early lead, Samford led the whole game, even by as much as 10 points, and the Bulldogs won game four, 30-22.
Against the Jaguars, Stangohr led the Bulldogs in kills with 12 and helped them out-block South Alabama with eight block assists. Dempski followed right behind, grabbing 11 kills, four digs, three block assist, one block solo and a service ace. Sosnowski posted 10 kills and six block assists while Sears just missed her second double-double of the season with 12 digs and eight kills. Sears also had two assists, one block assist and served up one ace.
Fountain raked in 49 assists while grabbing seven digs, five kills, three block assists and leading Samford in hitting with a .625 percentage. Gay tallied 20 digs and three assists while Gardner grabbed nine digs. Bland had nine kills, three digs, one ace and one block assist.
Samford 3, Kennesaw State 0
It was Samford in the match against Kennesaw State as the Bulldogs took the lead from the very beginning of game one and not relinquishing it through to game three.
Bland started things for the Bulldogs in game one, landing the first Samford kill against the Owls. Sears and Stangohr followed her lead and soon the Bulldogs led by 10. with the score at 20-10, Samford would go on a 10-5 run to win the game, 30-15.
Game two was close throughout the beginning, with Samford and Kennesaw State exchanging the lead a couple of times. However, the Bulldogs would eventually take over and push the point margin to nine. The Bulldogs win game two, 30-21.
Samford score three straight points to take an early lead in game three, and would charge ahead by as much as eight points before the Owls would catch up and tie it at 12. From that point on, the Bulldogs and Owls played a close game, but it would be Samford who would come out victorious, taking game three, 30-27.
Against the Owls, Stangohr led the Bulldogs in hitting with a .400 percentage while grabbing seven kills, one assist, one dig and one block assist. Sears led in the kills category with 13 kills while also having eight digs, one ace and one block assist. Bland added nine kills, six digs, four aces, and one block assist and solo. Dempski and sophomore outside hitter Katie Luckman each had four kills, and Dempski also added one ace, two digs, and two block assists. Gay posted 19 digs and two aces, while Fountain grabbed 33 assists one kill, one ace, one block assist and four digs.
