Sept. 19, 2009
Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team won its final two matches in the Memphis Tiger Invitational Saturday, moving the Bulldogs to 6-7 on the season. The win over the Trojans was Samford's first-ever. The win over UAB was its second in a series of 23 matches, first since 2001.
Samford defeated UALR in the noon match Saturday, 3-0 (26-24, 25-18, 25-23), and UAB in the evening match, 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 22-25, 25-22).
"We did not come out strong in any set against UALR but made plays after 20 to win," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "That, more than anything, shows that we are maturing and continue to grow this season. The UAB match was kind of an ugly match after a long four-match weekend. I was glad we made plays when we needed to in order to win some close sets. We took some big steps forward this weekend. We had been creeping along but took some very large strides towards our goals."
The Bulldogs led for most of the first set against UALR, leading by as much as six at one time. However, the Trojans fought back to tie the score at 23 and took their first lead of the game, but Samford answered back and tied the score at 24 on a kill by Allie Bettinger then won the game on an ace by Bettinger and a block by Shelby Brandon and Rachel Gadberry.
Samford then dominated the second set after overcoming an early fight by the Trojans. UALR kept the game close until the Bulldogs were able to pull ahead by four on two kills by Bettinger and a couple of Trojan errors. Samford then forged ahead and won the second set, 25-18.
After falling behind by eight early in third set, the Bulldogs pulled back within three and eventually tied the score at 23. Samford was able to execute in the final minutes and win, 25-23, on a block by Neisler and Stangohr and a kill by Neisler.
Bettinger and Sheriden Stanoghr led the Bulldogs against the Trojans. Bettinger knocked down 13 kills while hitting .243 and adding seven digs, two aces and one assists. Stangohr tallied 12 kills, hitting .450, with four block assists, one block solo, two digs and one ace. Gadberry posted a team-high .571 hitting percentage with eight kills on 14 attempts and no error. She also added two block assists and one dig.
Hillary Fountain dished out 38 assists and seven digs while also grabbing three kills on 10 attempts with no errors and two block assists. Alexis Bauer led her team in digs with 12 while also grabbing three aces. Samantha Bland was near behind with eight digs and one assist. Elizabeth Neisler added seven kills, one block assist and one assist while Brandon had two kills, one dig and three block assists. Casey Garvey had two assists, two aces and six digs.
UALR was led by Anita Bucur with 19 kills while Giuliana DeFrancesco dished out a team-high 34 assists and Emily Pepperman had 13 digs.
Samford took an early lead over the Blazers in the first set before UAB fought back to tie the game at 13. The Blazers briefly held the lead but a couple of errors gave Samford the lead back and the Bulldogs would go on to win the first set, 25022, on a kill by Stangohr.
The Bulldogs fell behind by as much as five in the second set but soon tied the score at 15 and took over from there. Back-to-back kills by Gadberry and Fountain put Samford ahead by two and with the help from a block by Fountain and Stangohr and kill by Neisler, the Bulldogs would go on to win the second set, 25-21.
Samford opened up the third set with consecutive kills Bettinger and Gadberry but the Blazers answered back a tied the score at two. The Bulldogs then took over the lead, going ahead by as much as three but UAB soon caught up and would go on to win, 25-22.
The score to the fourth set was similar to the third, except the tables were turned for the Bulldogs. The Blazers were the first to score in the final set but Samford quickly answered back with four straight kills, two by Brandon and one each by Gadberry and Bettinger. UAB briefly held a lead by as much as three but the Bulldogs fought back to tie the score at 16 and took over, going on to win, 25-22.
Against the Blazers, the Bulldogs were led by Bettinger, Neisler and Stangohr. Bettinger racked up 19 kills while hitting .245 and grabbing seven digs. Neisler added 12 kills, three digs, three block assists and one block solo while Stangohr knocked down 10 kills and had four digs, four block assists and two aces.
Fountain posted a season-high 50 assists along with nine digs, six kills and two block assists. Bauer also notched a career-high 28 digs while Garvey also had a career-high 13 digs. Bauer also had four assists and one kill while Garvey had two assists.
Brandon led the team in hitting with a .381 percentage, tallying eight kills on 21 attempts with no errors. She also added three digs, two block assists and one block solo. Gadberry added six kills, two digs and three block assists while Bland had nine digs, two assists and two aces.
UAB was led by Sam Serley with 14 digs followed by Savannah Pegg and Michelle Uzoh with 11 and 10, respectively. Alison Woods dished out a team-high 36 assists while Heather Thomas and MacKenzie Wilson with 18 and 10 digs, respectively.
Samford kicks of the conference season next weekend with a four-match home stand starting with UNC Greensboro and Elon, Sept. 26-27. Then, the Bulldogs will host Southern Conference rival Chattanooga on Wednesday, Sept. 30, before taking on Davidson, Oct. 4, to close out the two-week stint at home.
