Sept. 5, 2009
Box Score
NASHVILLE, Tenn. ---- The Samford University volleyball team fell in both of its matches Saturday to Southeast Missouri and Belmont in the final day of the Belmont Tournament. In a series of close sets, the Bulldogs could get past the Redhawks Saturday afternoon, falling, 3-2. Belmont defeated Samford Saturday night, 3-0, but not without a fight from the Bulldogs.
"Although the results may not show it, this was not a bad weekend for us," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "We played a lot of hard-fought matches again, which is good for such a young team. We just couldn't get over that hump to win."
Freshman libero Alexis Bauer was named to the All-Tournament team. Bauer average 3.55 digs per set throughout the tournament. Friday night, she posted nine digs, and notched 14 digs against Southeast Missouri and 16 digs against Belmont on Saturday.
Samford (3-3) fought through five sets with Southeast Missouri (3-3) but was not able to break the winning streak the Redhawks hold over the Bulldogs. SEMO has now won all nine meeting between the two teams.
The Bulldogs won the first set with Southeast Missouri, beginning with a big block by Shelby Brandon and Sheriden Stangohr. Samford pushed led lead out to eight points and held that lead, winning by seven, 25-18. The Redhawks took the next two sets, 25-21 and 25-19, giving them the match advantage.
The Bulldogs came back and took the fourth set, leading by as much as five and winning 25-19. However, it was SEMO that would take the fifth set. After the Bulldogs jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead, the Redhawks went on a 9-4 run to take a two-point lead. Despite a hard fight by Samford, the Redhawks would win, 15-11.
Against the Redhawks, Samford was led by freshman Allie Bettinger. The outside hitter chalked up a career-high 18 kills and 17 digs, for her second double-double on the season. She hit .395 and had 20 points while adding one assists and two aces. Stangohr added 14 kills for a .211 hitting percentage and 18 points, adding two assists, two digs, six block assists and Samford's only solo block of the match.
Brandon knocked down nine kills for 11.5 points, with two digs and a career high of five block assists. Rachel Gadberry had eight kills for 10 points and a .222 hitting percentage. She also added two digs and four block assists. Elizabeth Neisler and Hillary Fountain notched seven kills each. Neisler also had two digs and one block assists while Fountain had 26 assists, a career-high 22 digs and one block assist.
Casey Garvey led the Bulldogs with a career-high 29 assists and 12 digs while Sarah Gardner had eight digs and an ace and Alica Roth added two digs.
In the final match of the evening, Samford took on a tough opponent in host team Belmont (2-6). The Bruins took an early six-point lead in the first set, but the Bulldogs quickly caught up and tied the score at 12. They fought through two more ties before they took their first lead of the match at 15-14, and fought with the Bruins to keep that led before relinquishing it three points later. Samford soon tied the score again and took the lead back but Belmont would go on to force extra points and win, 28-26.
Samford took the first lead in the second set but Belmont would soon take the lead and run with it, eventually winning the second set, 25-18. The Bruins led by as much as eight in the third and final set, and although Samford got within three, Belmont would go on to win, 25-21.
Five Bulldogs had double digits in digs against the Bruins. Fountain and Bauer led with 16 while Garvey added 11 and Bettinger and Gardner tallied 10. Bettinger chalked up her third consecutive double-double, adding 11 kills to her 10 digs while also grabbing 11 points.. Fountain also led the Bulldogs in assists with 18, for her second consecutive double-double.
Garvey also tallied her second consecutive double-double, adding 11 assist to her 11 digs. Brandon knocked down eight kills to lead the Bulldogs in hitting with a .300 attack percentage. She also added three digs. Neisler had six kills, two digs and two block assists while Stanoghr had three kills, two block solos, three block assists, one dig and one assist. Gadberry tallied two kills, two digs, two block assists and one block solo.
Samford will have a quick turnaround this week as they head to south to take on Troy University on Tuesday. Match play starts at 6 p.m.
