Sept. 28, 2008
Final Stats
STATESBORO, Ga. ---- The Samford University volleyball team wrapped up its first weekend of Southern Conference play Sunday afternoon with a sweep of Georgia Southern (25-22, 25-12, 25-11). The Bulldogs grabbed their first SoCon win Saturday with a sweep of Davidson, and are now 13-2 (2-0 SoCon), extending their win streak to seven. The Bulldogs posted a season-high hitting percentage of .474 as a team and out-blocked the Eagles, 8-2.
Kirstein Sosnowski led the Bulldogs in hitting, knocking down 14 kills on 21 attempts with only two errors and hitting .571. She also grabbed one block solo and two block assists. Ashley Adams put down 11 kills on 18 attempts with no errors and hit a season-high .611 while posting seven digs and two block assists. Sara Sears added eight kills, hitting a career-high .429 and grabbed four digs along the way. Rachel Gadberry tied a career-high in block assists with five while hitting .369 with six kills.
Sheriden Stangohr notched a new career-high in aces with five, having three consecutive aces in set two. She also hit .667, scoring on four of her six attempts while grabbing one assist and one block assist. Hillary Fountain dished out 37 assists while posting two aces, two block assists, one block solo and one kill. Courtney Gay grabbed nine digs and one aces while Sarah Gardner dug seven balls and served up two aces and Samantha Bland added one assist.
"After Saturday's match, we talked about defensive intensity and digging balls," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder. "In set one, we still struggled defensively, but in set two and three we picked it up. It's a great start to Southern Conference play, winning two matches, 3-0. Our first contact is very good right now, and that will be the backbone of our success."
Samford will continue conference play next weekend, Oct. 4-5, at home as it takes on Appalachian State on Saturday and Western Carolina on Sunday in the Pete Hanna Center.
Samford 3, Georgia Southern 0
The first set was close as the score was tied a every point until Samford took a 6-5 lead on a kill by Adams. Two Georgia Southern errors gave the Bulldogs a three-point advantage and a kill by Adams extended the lead to four. After a Georgia Southern timeout, the Eagles came out with a kill to cut the lead to three and it was a back-and-fourth battle between the two teams. Samford pushed its lead out to five but the Eagles got back within two before Samford moved ahead by four. Georgia Southern took another timeout and soon got within one point of the Bulldogs, but Samford did not give up and Sosnowski rattled off three kills to win set one, 25-22.
Georgia Southern struck the first blow in the second set but Samford quickly charged out to a four-point lead. Stangohr got the Bulldogs on the board with a kill and then followed up with back-to-back aces. Fountain and Gadberry made it a three-point game and the Eagles committed an error to help Samford to go ahead by four. The Bulldogs continued to dominate the situation and three consecutive aces by Stangohr and a block solo by Fountain extended Samford's advantage to nine. The Bulldogs quickly went ahead by 12 on a kill by Sosnowski and never looked back, winning set two, 25-12.
The Bulldogs came right out of the gate with a block by Adams and Gadberry. Back-to-back Samford errors put Georgia Southern on the board but the Bulldogs answered back, tied the score, and were up by three soon on kills by Sears, Sosnowski and Stangohr. Samford kept it going, extending their lead to nine on more kills by Sears and Sosnowski. The Eagles took a timeout but the Bulldogs continued to dominate. Samford soon led by 11 and the 14, winning set three, 25-11, on a kill by Sosnowski.
