Nov. 15, 2008
Final Stats
GREENSBORO, N.C. ---- The Samford University volleyball team fell in the season finale Saturday afternoon to UNC Greensboro, 3-0, at Fleming Gym in Greensboro, N.C. The Spartans snapped Samford's eight match win streak beating the Bulldogs in three sets, 25-19, 25-18, 25-23. The SoCon North Division Champion Bulldogs move to 27-4, 16-2 in league play.
The Spartans (22-9, 14-4 SoCon) celebrated their senior players Saturday afternoon and did not want Samford to come in a rain on their parade. Greensboro quickly won the first two sets but not without a fight by the Bulldogs. Samford came out of the 10-minute break and picked up their game leading most of the third set but Greensboro fought back and caught up, eventually taking the two-point win.
Sara Sears led the Bulldogs in kills with 10 while grabbing four digs and one ace, and Sosnowski followed right behind as she knocked down nine kills and led Samford in the hitting effort with a .316 percentage. Samantha Bland had eight kills and five digs with two assists, two block assists and one ace while Sheriden Stangohr posted six kills, one dig and two block assists.
Rachel Gadberry had five kills, one dig and one block solo and Sarah Gardner added two kills, three digs and one ace. Hillary Fountain dished out 35 assists while also grabbing three digs, one ace and one block solo, and Courtney Gay grabbed 11 assists and two assists.
The Bulldogs will head back to Greensboro next weekend to play in the Southern Conference Tournament. Action begins on Wednesday and the Bulldogs will be a No. 1-seed in the four-day affair. Check www.samfordsports.com later in the week for more details.
UNC Greensboro 3, Samford 0
UNC Greensboro jumped out to an early three-point lead in the first set scoring the first three points on a kill, a Samford error and an ace. The Bulldogs answered back and cut the lead to two on a kill by Gadberry, but the Spartans scored once more to go ahead by three again. The Bulldogs then went on a 5-2 run to tie the score at seven with a kill by Stangohr and a pair of back-to-back kills by Bland and Sears.
It was tied for the next two points before Greensboro went ahead again by three. Samford then found itself tied at 16 after a block by Stangohr and Bland and several errors by the Spartans, but UNCG profited off a Samford service error and back-to-back blocks to take a three-point lead again and force Samford to take a timeout.
The Spartans came out of the break firing and make it a four-point game before the Bulldogs cut it to two on a UNCG error and block by Gadberry but Greensboro tacked on two more kills to go ahead again by four. Samford called another time out but the Spartans put up four straight points to win the first set, 25-19.
Sears put the Bulldogs on the board first in set two with a kill but UNCG answered back with a kill of its own. A Samford error and a Spartan ace gave Greensboro a two-point lead before Gadberry knocked down a kill to cut the lead to one. UNCG then went on a 5-0 run to take a six-point lead and force Samford to take its first timeout of the set.
The Spartans came out of the break and pushed their lead to seven while the Bulldogs fought hard to finally get within three. However, after a kill by UNCG and an error by the Bulldogs put the Spartans back up by five, Samford took its second timeout to regroup. Gadberry fired off a kill out of the break cut the lead to four but the Spartans dominated the final third of the set and went on an 8-5 run to take set two, 25-18.
Each team traded kills to start the third set and the score was tied for the first two points. Samford took the lead on a block by Bland and Stangohr and soon lead by five after kills by Gardner, Sears, Bland and Stangohr. The Spartans were able to cut the lead to three several times but Samford seem to dominate this third set before UNC Greensboro went on a 6-3 run to get within one point.
Samford called a timeout to discuss strategy and kept a two-point lead for the next seven plays with kills by Sears, Sosnowski and Stangohr. The Spartans called for a timeout with the score at 23-21 to see if they could workout a strategy. The next three points belonged to UNCG as it posted a block, an ace and a kill to take over the lead by one at 24-23. Samford took its final timeout but a Samford error won Greensboro the match point and the Spartans would go on to win, 25-23.
