Oct. 2, 2010
Box Score
DAVIDSON, N.C. ---- The Samford volleyball team dropped its third straight Southern Conference match Saturday in a five-set thriller (17-25, 25-20, 25-13, 21-25, 12-15) at Davidson. The loss marks the eighth consecutive loss for the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs have not lost more than seven in a row since 2006.
After dropping the first set, Samford came back and won the next two, dominating the third. Davidson won the fourth set to push the match to a tie-breaker, and eventually won the fifth and final set.
"Volleyball is a game of first contact," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "In the first and fourth sets, we got manhandled with their serves. When we handled the serves, we won easy sets. When you get into a fifth set with an engaged home team, anything can happen. Davidson made plays to win."
Elizabeth Neisler led the Bulldogs, posting a career performance against the Wildcats. The sophomore middle blocker tallied a career-high .462 hitting percentage, scoring a career-high 22 kills on a career-high 39 attempts. She also matched a career high in assists with two while posting four digs and a block.
"Neisler was unstoppable today and is emerging as one of the best weapons in the conference," Schroeder said. "Lexi was also solid and the new faces on the floor (Taylor Chao and Alicia Roth) played very well and were out there because of how they practiced this week."
Katie Murphy followed with 11 kills and two blocks while hitting .450. Lauren Hutchinson posted 10 kills and hit .304, and also added two blocks and a dig. Samantha Bland had a season-high nine kills while also grabbing eight digs and three assists. Shelby Brandon had six kills, two blocks and a dig.
Hillary Fountain tied a season-high with 47 assists while adding five digs and three kills. Alexis Bauer had 20 digs and added two aces and five assists. Chao posted seven digs, two aces and a kill while Roth posted eight digs, a kill and an assist. Casey Garvey tallied two assists and two digs.
Davidson was led by Sarabeth Peele who tallied 21 kills and hit .442. She also added nine digs, two assists, an ace and a block. Jorden Benedict and Erin Lupfer followed with 13 kills each. Benedict hit .385 while Lupfer hit .357. Hayley Lawson dished out 45 assists and posted nine digs while Christine Perzinski also led in digs with nine.
The Bulldogs will round out their month-long road swing Wednesday as they travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., to take on their SoCon rival. Match play begins at 6 p.m. CT at MacLellan Gym.
Davidson 3, Samford 2
The Wildcats opened up the first set with five straight points. After serving for four consecutive points, Perzinski served up an error to give Samford its first point of the match. Samford then began scoring on a couple of kills by Neisler and a couple of Davidson errors, but the Wildcats had taken a 10-5 lead and Samford wanted a timeout.
A Davidson service error out of the break brought Samford within four points but the Wildcats posted four straight to take an eight-point lead. While leading 17-10, Davidson took a timeout. The Wildcats came out of the break and took a nine-point lead before Samford called its second timeout. Neisler responded after the break with a kill but Davidson would go on to win the first set, 25-17.
Neisler knocked down a kill for the Bulldogs' first point of the second set and a Wildcat error gave Samford an early two-point lead. Davidson tied the score at two but a couple of errors by Davidson gave the Bulldogs the lead again. The score was tied seven more times but with the help of kills by several Bulldogs, Samford maintained its lead. With the score tied at 19, Neisler and Bland knocked down two kills to take a 21-19 lead and force Davidson to call a timeout.
Fountain tacked on another kill after the break and Davidson immediately wanted another timeout. Hutchinson extended the Bulldog lead to four with a kill. Benedict cut the lead back to three with a kill, but a kill by Neisler and a block by Neisler and Hutchinson gave Samford the 25-20 win of the second set.
Samford took a quick 3-0 lead in the third set after back-to-back kills by Hutchinson and Neisler and an ace by Bauer. A service error by Bauer put the Wildcats on the board but a Wildcat error and another kill by Hutchinson gave Samford a 5-1 lead. The Bulldogs then pushed their lead out to four on a Wildcat error and Davidson called a timeout. After the break, the Bulldogs went on a 6-4 run to take a seven-point lead and Davidson called its second timeout.
A kill by Hutchinson put the Bulldogs ahead by eight but Davidson put together a 5-2 run to cut the Samford lead to five. Samford called a timeout and answered back with back-to-back kills by Brandon and Murphy. Davidson scored one more point but Samford would score six straight to go on to win set three, 25-13.
The score was tied three times in the fourth set before Davidson finally took a definitive lead. With the Wildcats leading 9-5, Samford called an early timeout to discuss strategy. A service error out of the break by Davidson followed by an attack error put the Bulldogs within two points, but Davidson would extend its lead back out to six and force Samford to call another timeout.
Samford charged back to get within three points on an 8-4 run and Davidson wanted a timeout. An error by the Wildcats after the break cut the lead to two but Davidson would go on to win set four, 25-21.
The fifth set proved to be a thriller as the score was tied for the first ten points of the set. Samford gained the first point on a Wildcat error but Benedict knocked down a kill to tie the score. The lead changed four times and finally Davidson took a 10-9 lead on a kill by Benedict, forcing Samford to take a timeout. Brandon came back with a kill to tie the score at 10 but back-to-back kills by Peele put the Wildcats back ahead by two.
Samford called its final timeout of the match and Hutchinson and Murphy downed kills to tie the score at 12. However, the Wildcats tacked on three straight points and would go on to win set five, 15-12.
