Nov. 2, 2008
Final Stats
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team closed out home play Sunday with a 3-0 sweep of Davidson. The Bulldogs wrapped up its first-ever undefeated win streak at home and now lead the series with the Wildcats, 2-0.
Samford (24-3, 13-1 SoCon) held Davidson (11-16, 6-8 SoCon) to a .071 hitting percentage in the first set and never let the Wildcats hit about .150 while hitting .435 and .429 in the first and third sets. The first two sets were back-and-forth battles and the Bulldogs had to fight their way to win each set, 25-23. Samford came alive in set three and dominated, 25-15 to close out a five-match homestand with a win.
Samford's five seniors - Courtney Gay, Kirstein Sosnowski, Jackie Jaszcz, Sara Sears and Ashley Adams - were also honored prior to first serve on Sunday.
Adams led the Bulldogs with 14 kills, hitting .387 and grabbing four digs and one block assist. Sosnowski and Sheriden Stangohr both knocked down eight kills. Sosnowksi hitting .375 and had one block assist while Stangohr committed only one error on 14 attempts and hit. 500. She also had one ace, one dig and three block assists.
Hillary Fountain dished out 38 assists while also grabbing three kills, three block assists and one ace. Gay led the Bulldogs in digs with 15 and had one ace and two assists. Rachel Gadberry posted score on five of seven attempts with no errors to hit .714 and had three block assists while Samantha Bland had two kills, three digs, one assist and one ace. Sara Sears had four kills, one dig and on e block assist while Katie Luckman grabbed one dig.
The Bulldogs will play the rest of the season on the road as they head to Western Carolina and Appalachian State next weekend before closing out the season at Elon and UNC Greensboro Nov. 13 and 15.
Samford 3, Davidson 0
It was a see-saw game at the beginning of set one with each team exchanging points, fighting through ties at the first four points. With the score tied at four, Davidson gained a two point lead on two Samford errors, but with a kill by Sears, the lead was cut back to two. Davidson soon forced Samford to call a timeout after a 4-1 run gave the Wildcats a four-point lead.
After the timeout, Samford got within three points on a Davidson error, but soon the Wildcats were ahead by six points. Three Davidson errors and a block by Fountain and Stangohr closed the gap to two but Davidson was soon back ahead by four due to another Bulldog error and a Wildcat ace. Trailing 18-14, the Bulldogs went on a 5-1 run to tie the score at 19, complemented by kills by Sears and Adams, an ace by Fountain and a block by Gadberry and Sosnowski.
Davidson took a timeout and out of the break, Fountain committed a service error to put the Wildcats ahead by one. A kill by Adams evened the score again but Davidson kept its lead with a kill. A kill b Sosnowski tied the score at 21, an error gave the Bulldogs the lead again and a service ace by Gay put Samford ahead by two and forced Davidson to take another timeout. Back-to-back kills out of the break from the Wildcats tied the score, but after a timeout by Samford, the Bulldogs took over again on a kill by Stangohr and a Wildcat error gave the Bulldogs the 25-23 win.
Two kills by Stangohr put the Bulldogs ahead 2-0 in the second set but two Samford errors brought Davidson even with them. Kills by Adams and Gadberry put Samford back on top by two, and after a Bulldog service error, back-to-back Wildcat errors put Samford ahead by three points. The Wildcats went on a four-point run to take a one-point lead but a service error by Davidson evened the score at seven. After a kill gained Davidson the lead again, the Bulldogs went on a 6-2 run to take a three-point lead, which was topped off with kills by Sosnowski and Stangohr and an ace by Bland.
The 6-2 run caused Davidson to ask for a timeout and three consecutive kills out of the break brought Davidson back to tie the score at 13. An attack error by Davidson put the Bulldogs back on top but a service error by Samford evened the score at 14. The game was tied once again at 15 and then again at 19 before the Bulldogs jumped back ahead by two. A 5-2 run after another Davidson timeout evened the score at 22 but after Samford took a timeout, the Bulldogs tacked on three points to Davidson's one to win set two, 25-23.
A kill by Adams and an ace by Stangohr put the Bulldogs ahead by two early in the third set, but Davidson answered back with two points of their own to tie the score. It was a close game for a while but soon Samford pulled ahead by three on kill by Bland and Fountain and a block by Fountain and Stangohr which gave the Bulldogs a 10-7 lead. After a Davidson timeout, the Bulldogs went on a 7-1 run to go ahead by nine. The run was sparked by a block by Fountain and Stanoghr and after four consecutive Bulldog kills, was ended by a Wildcat kill. However, Samford continued to dominated and walked away with a 25-15 third set win to take the match.
