Oct. 18, 2009
Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team had their undefeated home record snapped Sunday as the College of Charleston Cougars defeated the Bulldogs in three sets. Samford had not lost in the Pete Hanna Center since the Bulldogs started playing there on Nov. 7, 2007. Samford falls to 12-10 overall and 6-2 in Southern Conference play while the Cougars improve to 10-10, 5-2 in league play.
"They game-planned very well and shut down our tempo offense," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "Sheriden Stangohr and Rachel Gadberry worked hard the whole game but struggled to find success. I think that team is the summit of the SoCon this year. Now we have to decide if we want to work to climb that high."
The senior middle blocker, Stangohr, led the Bulldogs for the seventh straight match. She tallied nine kills and three block assists while grabbing one dig. Gadberry added seven kills, one block solo and one block assist while Allie Bettinger posted six kills and five digs along with one assist.
Hillary Fountain dished out 24 assists while hitting .667 with four kills on six attempts and no errors. She also added three digs, one block assist and one ace. Alexis Bauer had a team-high seven digs along with two assists and one ace. Elizabeth Neisler had three kills and one block assist while Katie Luckman added two kills, one block assist and one dig. Samantha Bland and Casey Garvey added four and three digs, respectively.
Samford out-set College of Charleston 28 assists to 22 and grabbed five more kills than the Cougars, 31-26. However, College of Charleston out-blocked the Bulldogs, 21.5 to five, with most of its points coming off blocks.
Elyse Chubb led the blocking scheme for the Cougars with 10 block assists and one block solo. She also hit .333 with four kills on nine attempts and one error. Ginny Phillips led the Cougars in kills with nine, hitting .438. She also added one assist, three aces and seven digs while grabbing eight block solos.
Cole Dawley dished out 19 assists while grabbing four kills and four block assists and Whitney Russell also tallied four kills while added six block assists and one block solo. Paige Johnson added seven digs to lead the back row along with Phillips and Chubb.
Samford raised $704 for the Side-Out Fountain with the Dig Pink match on Sunday. The Bulldogs auctioned their pink jerseys off as well as sold Dig Pink shirts and took donations. Between the second and third set, Samford honored Melanie Claiborne, former UAB head coach, who has struggled with brain cancer for the last year.
The Bulldogs head out on the road for the next two weeks as they set out on a five-match road swing before returning home for Homecoming and Senior Weekend. Samford will meet Chattanooga on Wednesday, Oct. 21, before heading to Furman and Wofford, Oct. 24-25, for the first time since joining the Southern Conference. The Bulldogs will then head to Elon and UNC Greensboro the next weekend, Oct. 31-Nov. 1, before returning home.
College of Charleston 3, Samford 0
The first set opened up with both teams trading kills, first by College of Charleston's Sarah Havel and then by Samford's Stangohr. A ball handling error by Dawley gave the Bulldogs its first lead of the game, but an 8-3 run by the Cougars soon had them up by five, forcing Samford to take a timeout. The Bulldogs fought to cut the lead but Charleston continued to forge ahead, pushing their lead out to 10 before Samford cut it to eight and called another timeout. However, nothing doing for the Bulldogs out of the break as Charleston would go on to win set one by nine, 25-16.
Stangohr got the Bulldogs on the board first in set two with a kill but a service error by Garvey evened the score. The score was tied three more times before College of Charleston put together a 6-2 run to take a 10-6 lead. Samford called a timeout but the Cougars would add six straight points to push their lead out to 10. After another timeout, the Bulldogs cut the lead to seven on a kill by Gadberry, a block by Neisler and Stangohr and an error by Russell. However, Charleston would go on to win, 25-14.
Samford came out blazing in the third set, racking up three straight points on an ace by Bauer, a block by Luckman and Stangohr and a kill by Luckman to start. The Cougars quickly caught up and tied the score but Samford held onto a one point lead before Charleston went on an 11-3 run to take a seven-point advantage, 17-10. Samford called a timeout to talk it over and with the help of kills by Neisler, Luckman, Fountain and Stangohr and blocks by Gadberry and Bettinger, the Bulldogs cut the lead to five. However, Charleston called a timeout and responded with a 4-1 run to win the third set, 25-17.
