Nov. 7, 2010
Box Score
BOONE, N.C. ---- The Samford University volleyball team fell in a hard-fought battle Sunday afternoon at Appalachian State in the Bulldogs' final road match of the 2010 season. Samford dropped the match, 3-1, and moves to 14-15 overall and 8-7 in Southern Conference play. Appalachian State improves to 16-9 overall and 9-5 in league play.
The win for Appalachian State moves the Mountaineers into a tie for first place in the North Division with Elon. Samford moves to third place with an 8-7 record above UNC Greensboro who fell to Furman and Elon this weekend.
The loss snapped a three-match win streak for Samford, matching the longest streak for the Bulldogs this year. The Bulldogs dropped the first two sets, 25-20, before taking the Mountaineers to extra play in the third set. Samford won the third set, 29-27, but fell in the fourth set, 25-21, after losing a back-and-forth battle.
Allie Bettinger led the Bulldogs against the Mountaineers, tallying 16 kills while also grabbing seven digs. Lauren Hutchinson followed with 15 kills, posting two block assists, a solo block, two digs and an assist as well. Lyndsey Holt posted her fourth double-double of the year, tallying 11 kills and 14 digs while also adding three block assists.
Katie Murphy led her team in blocks with three solo blocks and five block assists. She also added eight kills. Casey Garvey posted her fourth double-double of the season, her second straight, with 50 assists and 11 digs. Alexis Bauer led in digs with 20 against the Mountaineers, and also added three assists. Hillary Fountain posted four kills and 11 digs while also adding three assists and a block assist. Samantha Bland also added six digs and an assist while Taylor Palmer had two kills and a block assist.
Five Mountaineers posted double digits in kills against Samford. Caroline Sedon and Alison Blasingame posted 14 kills each while Maggie Seeds, Lauren Swecker and Anna Wagner each had 10 kills. Seeds hit a team-high .421 attack percentage, committing only two errors on 19 swings. Kasey Sauls dished out 29 assists while Lauren Brown had 23.
Swecker, one of three Mountaineers with a double-double, and Courtney Rhein led ASU with 18 digs while Wagner posted 16 digs and Brown had 11. Blasingame led her team in blocks with six block assists and two solo blocks while Seeds grabbed four block assists and Sedon had five block assists.
Samford will be back in action this Friday, Nov. 12, as it closes out the regular season at home against Georgia Southern. The match will begin at 6 p.m. in the Pete Hanna Center. The Bulldogs will honor their three seniors - Bland, Fountain and Gadberry - before the match begins.
Appalachian State 3, Samford 1
Appalachian State opened the match with a kill and two blocks to take a quick 3-0 lead in set one. Hutchinson finally got Samford on the board with a kill but the Mountaineers came back with an 8-4 run to take an 11-5 lead and force Samford to take an early timeout. The Bulldogs came back with a kill by Bettinger and Samford fought to cut the lead to two on kills by Bettinger and Hutchinson. With a 14-12 lead, ASU called a timeout.
A block out of the break by Hutchinson and Holt got the Bulldogs within one point but a 6-2 run by the Mountaineers pushed the lead back out to five. Trailing 20-15, Samford called a timeout, but ASU extended its lead to seven on a kill and a Samford error out of the break. However, with a kill by Holt, a Mountaineer error and two kills by Bettinger, Samford climbed back within three points. However, ASU called its final timeout and it would be the Mountaineers who would take set one, 25-20.
A Samford error got ASU on the board first in set two but Samford answered back with a kill by Hutchinson to even the score. It was a back-and-forth game with the score tied at each point until ASU took a 9-8 lead and Samford took a timeout. Four straight Samford errors out of the break gave the Mountaineers a five-point lead but after serving four straight points, Wagner served up an error and cut the lead to four again. ASU pushed its lead out to as much as six points and Samford fought to get within four twice on a kill by Palmer and a block by Murphy and Garvey, but the Mountaineers went on to win set two, 25-20.
Blasingame knocked down a kill to get ASU on the board first in set three but Bettinger answered with a kill of her own to even the score. The score was tied three more times until Samford took a four-point lead on two errors by Swecker and two kills by Bettinger. ASU called a timeout but Samford continued on to extend its lead to seven with two kills by Hutchinson and a block by Murphy. With a 4-0 run, the Mountaineers cut the Samford lead to four and the Bulldogs called a timeout.
Samford regained its four-point lead with an ASU error but the Mountaineers fought back to get within one on two Bulldog errors and a kill by Sedon. Samford called another timeout but ASU came back with a kill to tie the score at 19. From then on, it was a tight game with the score tied at each point and the lead changing back and forth. With back-to-back kills from Murphy, Samford took a 26-25 lead and ASU called a timeout. The Mountaineers came back to tie the score at 26 and at 27 but a block by Murphy and Garvey and a kill by Hutchinson gave Samford the 29-27 win of set three.
Hutchinson knocked down a kill to give Samford the first point of the fourth set, but ASU came back with four straight points to take a 4-1 lead. Samford called a timeout and the Bulldogs came back to tie the score at four with a kill by Bettinger, a block by Hutchinson and a kill by Fountain. The Mountaineers played Samford close for a while before the Bulldogs took off with a 5-1 run to take a four-point lead.
With Samford leading 15-11, ASU called a timeout and came back to cut the lead to two. Samford tried to keep its lead but the Mountaineers came back to tie the score at 20 with a three-point run that included back-to-back kills from Meghann Forshey. Samford called another timeout but ASU came back and took the lead, going on to win the final set, 25-21, on a 5-1 run.
