Sept. 30, 2009
Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team notched its 20th consecutive win in the Pete Hanna Center Wednesday night as it swept Southern Conference rival Chattanooga in a hard-fought three-set match. With the victory, the Bulldogs improve to 9-7, 3-0 SoCon while the Lady Mocs fall to 9-6, 1-2 SoCon.
Samford dominated the first set, winning by 11 points but as expected, Chattanooga put up a fight in the next two sets, forcing the Bulldogs into extra points. However, the Bulldogs rose to the occasion and were determined to win, pulling out the victory in the final plays of the match.
"We knew going in that this was going to be a match about resiliency and I am very proud of our girls," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "Our middle blockers, Sheriden Stangohr and Rachel Gadberry, were very good and will always be the catalyst to our offense. We were in system all night, and anchored by two freshmen and one junior, our serve-receive passing was stellar."
Samford was led again by senior Stangohr and freshman Allie Bettinger. Stangohr matched a season-high 15 kills while hitting a season-high .565 and posting four block assists. Bettinger posted her fifth double-double of the season and her third in a row, grabbing 13 kills and 10 digs. She also had one assist, one ace and one block assist.
Hillary Fountain led the Bulldogs in assists, dishing out 40 while serving up a season-high four aces and posting two kills and one block assist. Alexis Bauer and Samantha Bland led the back row in digs with 12 and nine, respectively. Bland also added one kill and one ace while Bauer notched three assists.
Gadberry hit .357, knocking down seven kills on 14 attempts with only two errors, while also grabbing two block assists. Elizabeth Neisler posted eight kills along with two digs and one block assist while Shelby Brandon added three kills and three block assists. Casey Garvey had one assist, one ace and three digs.
Chattanooga (9-6, 1-2 SoCon) was led by Courtney Barnes who hit a match-high .714, knocking down 10 kills on 14 attempts with no errors. Bailee Chastain dished out 23 assists while Paula Passmore led the back row with 16 digs. Ellie Kuhn had a team-high four block assists.
Samford will be back in action Sunday as the Bulldogs close out their four-match home stand against Davidson. Match play begins at 2 p.m.
Samford 3, Chattanooga 0
Although Chattanooga got on the board first in set one on a Samford attack error, the Bulldogs rallied back with four straight points due to back-to-back to kills by Neisler and Fountain, a UTC error and a service ace by Garvey. Samford then went on a 5-3 run to take a five-point lead and force Chattanooga to take a timeout. However, Samford continued to pile on the points as the Bulldogs pushed their lead out to 11, going on 16-9 run to win the first set, 25-14.
Samford took the early 2-0 lead in set two on an error by Chattanooga and a block by Neisler and Stangohr, but the Lady Mocs answered back and tied the score with a kill and a Samford error and then took over the lead on kill and an ace. The Bulldogs answered back and tied the score twice more before taking a four-point lead, causing the Lady Mocs to call a timeout.
Samford then pushed its lead to five on a kill by Gadberry before Chattanooga climbed back within one with a 4-1 run. Samford went ahead again by three but the Lady Mocs caught up again and tied the score a 16, 17 and then again at 21.
Samford called a timeout and answered back out of the break with a kill by Brandon, but Chattanooga would answer back and tie the score at 23 and 24, before the Bulldogs went ahead again 25-24. After another Lady Moc timeout, the score was tied again at 25 and 26, but the Bulldogs locked it up with a kill by Gadberry and an ace by Fountain to win the second set, 28-26.
Chattanooga was first to score in set three on a block by Kuhn and Stephanie Harville, but Samford answered back with a kill by Stangohr to tie it up. The Lady Mocs then took a three-point lead before Samford caught up and tied the score at five, only to fight through ten more ties before finally gaining its first lead of the set. Samford trailed by as much as two points the whole set before final taking the lead when it counted on the last two points. With the score tied at 24, Stangohr knocked down back-to-back kills, each following a Chattanooga timeout, to win the set, 26-24, and match for the Bulldogs.
