Oct. 14, 2009
Box Score
TROY, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team dropped its second consecutive road match at Troy Wednesday, in a 3-0 (26-24, 25-29, 25-22) sweep. The Bulldogs fall to 11-9, 5-1 SoCon while the Trojans improve to 10-10 overall.
"Troy is a well-coached team that beat us at our own game," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder. "Their serving and passing was exceptional and we were fighting an uphill battle the whole match. The bright side was more of a willingness to battle tonight. Our team has realized the road is not easy and has started to respect the level we need to bring to other teams' gyms."
Samford was led by Allie Bettinger and Sheriden Stangohr who both tallied 12 kills on the night. Stangohr notched a team-high .550 hitting percentage and grabbed three block assists while Bettinger had five kills. Shelby Brandon added five kills while Rachel Gadberry had four kills, hitting .333 on 12 attempts and no error with seven digs, one ace and one block assist.
Elizabeth Neisler and Casey Garvey tallied two kills each while Neisler had four block assists and Garvey had an ace, a block assist and seven digs. Garvey led the Bulldogs in assists with 33 while Samantha Bland added two and Hillary Fountain and Neisler added one each. Alexis Bauer posted a team-high 13 digs while Garvey and Bland added seven each.
Troy was led by Meghan Gilroy who posted 12 kills and hit .292. Megan Henderson posted a team-high .750 hitting percentage, tallying six kills on eight attempts with no error. She also posted a double-double, tallying 32 assists and 10 digs.
Samford will be back in action this weekend, Oct. 17-18, as it hosts The Citadel and College of Charleston. Both matches begin at 2 p.m. and will be streamed live for free on www.samfordsports.com. Sunday's match will be Samford's Dig Pink match to support the fight against Breast Cancer. Join Samford in sporting pink and come out and cheer on the Bulldogs.
Troy 3, Samford 0
Samford began the first set with three straight points to take the first lead. However, Troy went on a 6-4 run to tie the game before taking the lead, 7-6, on a Samford error. The Bulldogs tied it at seven and took the lead back on a kill by Stanoghr, but Troy answered back to tie the game at eight. Samford took another two-point lead, but Troy came back and tied it again before taking the lead on a hitting error by Brandon.
After a long one-point lead by the Trojans, Samford fought back to tie it and take the lead on a kill by Stangohr and a block by Stangohr and Neisler. However, Troy responded and tied the score at 20. After a back-and-forth run by each team, Troy held a 24-23, match point, but a kill by Brandon tied the score. However, Troy would grab the next two points to win the first set, 26-24.
The Bulldogs grabbed the first point of the second set, but Troy quickly took over the lead by two. Samford cut it to one several times but the Trojans maintained their lead for the first third of the set, eventually pushing it out to five points. Samford fought back to get within one and then tie the score at 16 on back-to-back kills by Bettinger. However, Troy put together a 5-3 run to take the lead back at 21-18, and the Trojans would go on to win, 25-19.
Troy jumped out with the early two-point lead in set three, but Samford responded with two points of its own to even the score. The two teams traded points once more to tie the score at three but three kills by the Trojans gave them a 6-3 lead. Troy maintained that lead for a while until the Bulldogs fought to get within one and tie it at 13 on a Trojan error. After another tied score at 14, Samford took the lead on a kill by Stangohtr, but Troy answered back and evened the score at 15.
The score would be tied three more times before Samford would take a two-point lead. Troy answered back to event the score at 20, but Gadberry came up with a block to keep the lead for the Bulldogs. An error by the Bulldogs tied the score at 21 and another gave the lead back to Troy. With a Trojan match point at 24-21, a Samford block kept the game alive for Samford, but Troy would respond with a kill to end the set, 25-22.
