Oct. 6, 2010
Box Score
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. ---- The Samford volleyball team grabbed its first Southern Conference win Wednesday night in a 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-23) sweep at Chattanooga in front of a record crowd of 687. The Bulldogs (7-14, 1-3, SoCon) have now won 18 straight sets against the Lady Mocs and have not dropped a match to UTC since 1999. The win was also Samford's first road win of the season.
Chattanooga (4-15, 0-4 SoCon) created a hostile environment for the Bulldogs to come into Wednesday. The match was marked as the Lady Mocs' Dig Pink match to support Breast Cancer Awareness while the team was also trying to break the attendance record in MacLellan Gym. The Bulldogs knew they had their work cut out for them, but went in with a positive attitude and got the job done.
"It was great to finally get a road win," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "The cards were heavily stacked against us coming into this place tonight, but we managed to play maturely and we made some plays at the net when we needed to. Neisler was a stud for us tonight and did a really great job, and Lauren was a big presence at the net for us again tonight and did what we needed her to do."
Elizabeth Neisler and Lauren Hutchinson led the Bulldogs in hitting and blocking. Neisler posted 14 kills and hit .333 while grabbing three block assists. Hutchinson posted a career-high 10 blocks, knocking down nine block assists and a solo block. She helped Samford to a season-high 16 blocks against the Lady Mocs. Hutchinson also tallied seven kills and a dig. The Bulldogs fell just two blocks shy of matching a team career-high of 30 block assists.
Katie Murphy posted 10 kills and hit .300 while also grabbing four block assists, a solo block and a dig. Allie Bettinger, Hillary Fountain and Samantha Bland each had two kills. Fountain also dished out 33 assists and had four digs and four block assists. Bettinger had two digs and a block assist while Bland had 10 digs and an assist. Casey Garvey posted seven digs, an ace and a block assist while Alexis Bauer led in digs with 15 and added an assist. Shelby Brandon posted a kill, two digs and six block assists while Alicia Roth added an ace and two assists.
Chattanooga was led by Kristen Beasley who posted eight kills and Jennifer Kuroski added six kills. Bailee Chastain led the Lady Mocs in assists with 20 while Paula Passmore led the back row with 14 digs. Ellie Kuhn posted four of Chattanooga's seven blocks while Courtney Barnes had three.
Samford returns home for the first time in a month Friday as it plays host to Western Carolina in a 7 p.m. match. The Bulldogs then continue league play Saturday against Appalachian State at 7 p.m.
Samford 3, Chattanooga 0
Chattanooga took a quick 4-0 lead in the first set but Samford cut the lead to two on a Lady Moc service error and a kill by Hutchinson. UTC then went on a 5-2 run to take a 9-4 lead and force Samford to take its first timeout of the match. Hutchinson downed a kill out of the break to cut the lead to four but the Lady Mocs would maintain a five-point lead for the next 10 points.
With Chattanooga leading 15-10, the Bulldogs came up with three straight points on a kill by Hutchinson and back-to-back blocks by Neisler, Brandon and Hutchinson to get within two points and force the Lady Mocs to call their first timeout of the match. The Lady Mocs answered with three straight points of their own and were back on top by five. Samford called a timeout and Neisler came back with a kill to cut the lead to four to spark a 5-2 run and bring the Bulldogs within one point. Chattanooga called its final timeout but Murphy fired back with a kill to tie the score at 20. The score was tied twice more but Samford roared to a 25-22 set-one win on a kill by Neisler, a block by Neisler and Hutchinson and a kill by Hutchinson.
UTC grabbed the first point of the second set with a kill but Samford roared back with a 4-0 run on a UTC error, two kills by Neisler and an ace by Fountain to take a 4-1 lead and force Chattanooga to take its first timeout of the set. Samford continued to build a seven-point lead with the help of a block by Brandon and Hutchinson, a kill by Neisler and an ace by Roth as well as a few UTC errors, but back-to-back errors by the Bulldogs had Samford wanting a timeout.
Chattanooga posted a block out of the break but Samford went on a 7-3 run to take an eight-point lead. After a Lady Moc timeout, Samford kept pushing and extended its lead to 11 points on a block, a kill, an ace and a couple of Lady Moc errors. The Bulldogs blocked their way to a 25-14 win of set two.
Samford earned the first point of the third set on an attack error by UTC but the Lady Mocs quickly evened the score with a service ace. The score was tied three more times before Samford took a 6-4 lead on a block by Brandon and Murphy and a kill by Murphy. The Lady Mocs tied the score once again and the Bulldogs would fight through three more ties before taking a three-point lead on two kills and a block by Murphy.
After a Chattanooga timeout, the Lady Mocs went on a 4-1 run to get within one. Samford called a timeout and fought to push its lead back out to four before UTC called its final timeout. After back-to-back kills by the Lady Mocs to cut the Samford lead to two Bettinger and Murphy helped to keep a three-point lead for the Bulldogs. Chattanooga fought to hold Samford at match-point twice but after a Bulldog timeout, Murphy came up with a kill to give Samford the 25-23 win of set three.
