Nov. 7, 2009
Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team closed out the Homecoming Day festivities Saturday night with a 3-0 sweep of Appalachian State. With the win, the Bulldogs maintain first place in the Southern Conference standings with a 16-12 record overall and a 10-4 record in the league. The Mountaineers fall to 11-16 overall, 7-6 in conference play.
"This was a very solid team effort tonight," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "Elizabeth Neisler hitting .368 with 10 kills and Shelby Brandon hitting .500 with six kills spreads out their defense and makes life easier for us."
Sheriden Stangohr led the Bulldogs in kills with 11 while Neisler notched a team-high and a career-high hitting percentage. Stangohr also hit .364 while grabbing two block assists, one solo block and one ace. Neisler added one assist, one dig and one block assist.
Brandon and Rachel Gadberry both notched six kills against the Mountaineers. Brandon hit .500 on 10 attacks and only one error. She also added one dig and one block assist. Gadberry hit .308 while adding two block assists, one solo block and one dig. Allie Bettinger knocked down seven kills and grabbed two aces, eight digs and one solo block.
Hillary Fountain dished out a team-high 21 assists with two kills, one ace, five digs and one block assist. Casey Garvey was right behind with 18 assists along with one kill and one ace. Sarah Gardner grabbed four aces, four digs and one assist while Alexis Bauer led the back row with 14 digs and Alicia Roth served up one ace.
Appalachian State was led by Maja Jechorek who posted 10 kills, three digs, one ace and one block assists. Cassie Engelgau led the back row with 10 digs while Kasey Sauls dished out 26 assists. Becca Norris led in blocks, grabbing five of the Mountaineers' eight while Caroline Sedon and Lauren Swecker each added three block assists.
The Bulldogs will close out home play Sunday when they host Western Carolina at 2 p.m. The Catamounts were swept by Chattanooga earlier on Saturday bringing their record to 3-24 overall and 0-13 in conference play.
Samford will honor its seniors in a ceremony before Sunday's match. Live streaming of the match will be available for free on www.samfordsports.com and a full recap and results will be posted upon the completion of the match.
Samford 3, Appalachian State 0
Samford took an early four-point lead in the first set with a 6-2 run which started with a kill by Stangohr. After two errors, Appalachian State called its first timeout. The Mountaineers came out of the break and put together a 5-1 run to tie the score at seven but the Bulldogs answered back with an 8-2 run of their own to push the lead back out to six. After another Mountaineer timeout, Samford pushed the lead out to eight on a block by Brandon and Stangohr and a kill by Brandon. ASU cut the lead to six but Samford tacked on four straight points to take a 10-point lead. The Bulldogs would go on to win set one, 25-15.
Appalachian State grabbed the first point of the second set on a kill by Sedon but Neisler answered back with a kill of her own to even things up. Samford then added three more points to take a three-point lead but the Mountaineers rallied back with a 3-0 run to tie the score at four. The score would be tied five more times before Samford took another three-point lead, forcing the Mountaineers to take a timeout.
Samford maintained that lead for while before ASU got within two causing the Bulldogs to call a timeout with the score at 23-21. Out of the break, Stangohr knocked down a kill to lock in set point but the Mountaineers would score three straight points to tie the score at 24. Stangohr blasted another kill to put the Bulldogs ahead but followed with an error to even the score at 25. ASU's Swecker put down a kill to put the Mountaineers ahead by one but Sedon followed with a service error to tie the score at 26. Then Maggie Seeds committed two hitting errors to lock in the 28-26 second set win for the Bulldogs.
In the third set, ASU grabbed a quick 2-0 lead on a blocking error by Brandon and a block by Jechorek and Sedon. Samford evened things up quick though with a kill by Neisler and an ace by Garvey. The Bulldogs then went on an 8-3 run to go ahead by five causing the Mountaineers to call their first timeout of the set. ASU scored three straight points out of the break to get within two but Samford forged ahead and pushed its lead out to six, forcing another Mountaineer timeout. With the score at 18-12, ASU came out of the break and put together an 8-3 run to get within one, causing Samford to call its second timeout of the entire match. ASU's Engelgau served up an ace out of the break to tie the score at 21, but Samford would go on a 4-2 run to lock in the 25-22 win.
