Nov. 1, 2008
Final Stats
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team extended its home win streak to 11 Saturday night when it swept Georgia Southern at the Pete Hanna Center. The match was the second to last match at home for the Bulldogs, and the win lifts Samford to a 12-1 record in the Southern Conference.
Samford (23-3, 12-1 SoCon) struggled in the first two sets hitting only .229 and .129, respectively, in each set while keeping Georgia Southern (14-14, 7-6 SoCon) to .189 and .108. The Bulldogs challenged themselves to get back to the basics of what their team is all about - focused, alert, determined, execute - and bounced back to hit .500 in the third set and hold their opponents to .000.
"We have reached a point in our season where complacency is a big enemy," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "Games one and two tonight were not a focused, alert, determined typical Samford team. I am very happy that after being challenged between games two and three, we responded with a very determined and relentless 25 points in game three."
Ashley Adams and Sheriden Stangohr led the Bulldogs in hitting this evening. Adams knocked down 11 kills while hitting .409 and Stangohr posted seven kills with no errors and hit .538. Adams also posted five digs, one ace, two assists and three block assists. Stangohr added one ace, two digs and two block assists.
Hillary Fountain grabbed three kills along with 29 assists, two digs and one block assists. Courtney led the defense, grabbing 10 digs and grabbing one assist. Kirstein Sosnowski had seven kills with on e block assist while Sara Sears had five kills and two digs.
Rachel Gadberry led the Bulldogs in blocks, posted three block assists and one block solo while also knocking down three kills. Samantha Bland had nine digs, one kill, one assist and one ace while Sarah Gardner added seven digs, four aces and one assist.
The Bulldogs will play their final match at home Sunday as they host the Davidson Wildcats. Match play will begin at 2 p.m., in the Pete Hanna Center. The Bulldogs will honor their five senior prior to first serve. Admission is free and a full recap and results can be found at www.samfordsports.com.
Samford 3, Georgia Southern 0
The Bulldogs jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first set on kills by Stangohr and Fountain, a service ace by Stangohr and a Georgia Southern error. However, the Eagles came back to tie the score at five on four Samford errors and an ace. GSU then took over by three after another Bulldog error and then a block and kill of their own. Samford fought back to tie the score at 10 with an ace by Bland and go ahead by two with kills by Stangohr and Bland.
Several times the Eagles got within one point but the Bulldogs kept a two point lead until Georgia Southern called a timeout. Out of the break, a kill got the Eagles back within one and a Samford error tied the score at 16. Twice more the score was tied but back-to-back kills by Stangohr moved Samford ahead by two before Georgia Southern called another timeout. The Bulldogs then went on a 5-2 run to go ahead by five and a kill by Adams closed out the 25-20 win for Samford in the first set.
A block by Adams and Gadberry got Samford on the board first in set two but an attack error by Sosnowski got the Eagles right into the game. A kill by Adams put the Bulldogs back up by one but GSU answered right back to tie the score and two errors and block soon moved the Eagles ahead by three. A service error by Georgia Southern pulled the Bulldogs within two but a service error by Gay and a kill gave GSU a four-point advantage. However, three consecutive error moved Samford within one and a couple more errors by the Eagles tied the score at nine.
Fighting through five more ties, the Bulldogs gain the advantage on a service error by the Eagles and went ahead by one on a kill by Adams. GSU kept it a score game tying the score several times, but Samford would not relinquish the lead. With the score at 22-19, the Eagles took a timeout but Samford would only allow Georgia Southern two more points and went on to win the second set, 25-21.
A service ace gave Georgia Southern the first point of the third set but Samford answered back with four consecutive kills by Sears, Stangohr and Fountain to go ahead by three. Samford was soon ahead by four and kept that lead for a while before the Eagles fought back to tie the score at 10. However, the Bulldogs would not give up their lead and scored four straight points again on an Eagle error, an ace by Gardner and two blocks by Stangohr and Adams.
After Georgia Southern called a timeout, the Bulldogs scored five straight points to take nine point lead. With Sarah Gardner serving all seven points, an Eagle attack error was followed by back-to-back aces by Gardner and another attack error by GSU. A kill by the Eagles cut the lead to eight but Adams answered back with a kill to push it back out to nine. Georgia Southern took another timeout but a 5-3 run by the Bulldogs put the Bulldogs ahead by 10 and Samford took the third set win, 25-15.
