Sept. 10, 2010
Box Score
OXFORD, Miss. ---- The Samford volleyball team came back from a 2-0 deficit to defeat the University of Louisiana, 3-2, Friday afternoon on the first day of the Magnolia Invitational, hosted by Ole Miss. Samford won the match by scores of 26-28, 23-25, 25-22, 25-12, 15-12. The win was the 51st win of Samford head coach Derek Schroeder's career at the helm of the Bulldog volleyball program.
After hitting .022 and .182 in the first two sets, the Bulldogs upped their game and hit .222 in set three, .458 in set four and .429 in set five.
"We are allowing too many outside factors to determine our level of play early in matches," Schroeder said. "A good team with lofty goals like ours can't come out and hit .020 and .180. We are obviously capable of far more."
Samford (6-3) had four Bulldogs in double-digit kills and digs while Lyndsey Holt and Hillary Fountain grabbed their second double-doubles of the season and Casey Garvey posted her first. Holt tallied 11 kills and 10 digs while also grabbing two service aces, a block assist and a solo block. Fountain dished out 17 assists and 10 digs while adding two kills and one block assist. Garvey led her team in assists with 29 while also posted 10 digs and four service aces.
Katie Murphy led the Bulldogs with 15 kills while hitting .438 and grabbing five solo blocks and a block assist along with a dig. Allie Bettinger and Elizabeth Neisler each posted 13 kills while Bettinger also added two aces and eight digs. Neisler also tallied five digs and two block assists.
"Murphy was great after sitting out all week with a sinus infection and Lexi was great at libero in sets three, four and five," Schroeder said.
Alexis Bauer led Samford in digs with 18 while also posting five assists, a kill and an assist. Samantha Bland added an assist and seven digs while Rachel Gadberry tallied four kills, four digs, two set assists and three block assists.
Louisiana was led by Lesley Mrirarchi and Taylor Meade who posted 16 and 12 kills, respectively. Mirarchi also led in blocks along with Caroline Dufrene with five. Mandi Gavin posted a double-double, tallying 46 assists and 15 digs while Lindsay Brown led the Ragin' Cajun back row with 27 digs.
Samford will conclude play in the Magnolia Invitational Saturday as it takes on Southern Miss at 11 a.m. and Ole Miss at 7 p.m. Fans can follow the action via live stats through link on the volleyball schedule page at www.samfordsports.com.
Samford 3, Louisiana 2
Louisiana scored the first point of the match but Samford answered back with a kill by Bettinger. The score was tied 10 times after that before Samford took a three-point lead on back-to-back blocks by Gadberry, Holt and Murphy followed by a kill by Holt. The Ragin' Cajuns took a timeout but the Bulldogs came right back with a block by Neisler and Murphy to take a 17-14 lead. Louisiana went on a 4-3 run to cut the lead to one point, forcing Samford to take a timeout.
The Ragin' Cajuns came out of the break with a kill to tie the score but Murphy would knock down a kill to take the lead back for Samford. However, a Louisiana block and kill would give the lead back to the Ragin' Cajuns. Samford fought back to tie the score and then take the lead back, but Louisiana held Samford at two set points before tying the score again and taking the lead at 26-25. An attack error tied the score at 26 but Louisiana would go on to win set one, 28-26.
In set two, the score was tied for the first four points before Louisiana took a two-point lead. Samford fought back to tie the score several times before finally taking the lead on three straight kills by Murphy, Holt and Fountain to force the Ragin' Cajuns to call a timeout. Murphy came out of the break with a kill to put the Bulldogs ahead by three, but Louisiana answered back with two straight kills to cut the Samford lead to one. A kill and block by Murphy put Samford back ahead by three but Louisiana would go on a 4-0 run to take one-point lead and force Samford to call a timeout.
A block by Murphy and Fountain out of the break tied the score at 18. The score was tied three more times before Louisiana took a one-point lead again on a set error by Fountain. Samford called its final timeout of the set, but the Ragin' Cajuns posted back-to-back points to take a three-point lead. Two kills by Murphy and Gadberry cut the lead to one, but after one more timeout by Louisiana, the Ragin' Cajuns would win set two 25-23 on an attack error by Neisler.
Louisiana opened set three with back-to-back points to take a quick lead and the Ragin' Cajuns pushed that lead out to three before Samford went on a 7-0 run to take a four-point lead. Holt served for six straight points before the Ragin' Cajuns called the first timeout of the set. Louisiana answered with a kill after the timeout to cut the lead to three but Samford eventually pushed its lead out to six on kills by Neisler, Holt and Murphy.
The Ragin' Cajuns took another timeout and came back with a 4-1 run to cut the lead to three again. Samford called its first timeout of the set and came back with a 4-2 run to take a five-point lead. However, Louisiana answered back to trim the gap to two and force Samford to call its second timeout. The Ragin' Cajuns knocked down a kill out of the break to get within one but back-to-back kills by Neisler and Murphy handed Samford its first set win of the match, 25-22.
Samford started the fourth set scoring three straight points to take a quick lead. The Bulldogs followed with an 8-5 run with the help of a block by Gadberry and Neisler and kills by Bettinger and Murphy to take a six-point lead and force Louisiana to take an early timeout. Samford came out of the time out roaring, going on a 7-2 run to take an 11-point lead capped off by back-to-back aces by Bettinger and a Ragin' Cajun error. Louisiana called its last timeout, but Samford continued to press, going on a 7-5 run to win set four, 25-12, on kills by Murphy and Gadberry and an ace by Bauer.
Samford opened the final set with a 3-0 run sparked by Gadberry's opening kill before Louisiana charged back with a 5-2 run to tie the score at five. Samford fought to keep the lead and maintained an 8-7 advantage at the switch. After back-to-back kills by the Ragin' Cajuns, the Bulldogs called a timeout and came back with a block by Murphy after a Louisiana error to tie the game at 10. The Ragin' Cajuns called a timeout and Samford answered with back-to-back kills by Bettinger and Murphy to take a12-10 lead. Louisiana then called its final timeout and came back with a kill but Murphy answered with a huge block and the Bulldogs would go on to win, 15-12.
