Aug. 30, 2008
Final Stats
AUBURN, Ala. --- The Samford University volleyball team wrapped up play in the War Eagle Invitational Saturday night with a 3-1 win over the Mercer Bears. The Bulldogs are now 2-1 on the season and now lead the series with Mercer, 28-5.
The New Orleans Privateers took the War Eagle Invitational title while the Bulldogs grabbed second place. Samford placed two players on the All-Tournament team with Ashley Adams and Sheriden Stangohr.
Against the Bears, Adams grabbed her second double-double on the day, posting 17 kills and 11 digs while hitting .424 and assisting one block. Stangohr had 11 kills and four digs, assisting three blocks. Junior Sara Sears had 11 kills and seven digs with one block solo. Senior Kirstein Sosnowski posted seven kills, while grabbing two digs and five block assists. Red-shirt freshman Rachel Gadberry had six kills while hitting .250 and posted two digs, four block solos and five block assists.
Sophomore setter Hillary Fountain dished out 49 assists, with two kills, three digs and three block assists. She also led the Bulldogs with three aces. Senior Libero led Samford with 14 digs, while junior Sarah Gardner added six digs and one ace. Sophomore Samantha Bland also had one kills and four digs. The Bulldogs out-blocked the Bears, 14-8.
"I thought this was a very well executed match," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "We a defensive hiccup in the third set but that something we are going to get in the gym this week and work on.
"I'm very proud of our two all-tournament girls, Sheriden and Ashley," Schroeder said. "Hillary had a great game and Courtney Gay deserves some recognition as well. Sara Sears also did very well. She stepped up and did what we asked her to do."
Samford 3, Mercer 1
Samford dominated the first set leading by as much as 10 points. Adams had half of the Bulldogs' kills (5) while Gadberry score all three blocks for Samford, assisting two. The Bulldogs jumped out to an early three-point lead before Mercer got within two. However, Samford pushed the lead back out to five, then ten, and finally ended the set with a block by Gadberry and Fountain to win, 25-14.
The Bulldogs gained the first point of the second set due to a Mercer error, but the Bears soon charged out to a five-point lead. However, Samford began to take back the game with a seven point run that started with a kill by Gadberry and ended with a Mercer error to tie the score at 20. The Bears gained one more point before the Bulldogs went on a 5-2 run to win the match, 25-22, on a kill by Adams followed by a block by Adams and Gadberry.
Samford grabbed the first two points of set three on back-to-back kills by Sosnowski and Gadberry, but Mercer soon took the lead. It was a close score, with the Bears never leading by more than two, but after Samford tied the score at 13, the Bears soon took a three-point lead. The Bulldogs fought back to bring the gap to two, but Mercer extended it to four eventually. The Bears led 22-18 when Samford took a timeout. The Bulldogs came out of the break and gained three straight points on Mercer errors to get within one, but after a Mercer timeout, the Bears would score three points and only give up one to win the third set, 25-22.
In the fourth set, each team traded service errors for the first two points, and then traded the lead several times, fighting through five ties before Samford took at two point lead. The Bears cut the lead to one soon but the Bulldogs eventually pushed their lead out to six on consecutive kills by Sosnowski, two kills by Stangohr, and blocks by Gadberry, Fountain and Stangohr. The Bears held Samford on three match points but after a Bulldog timeout, Stangohr came out swinging and the Bulldogs took set four, 25-20.
