Sept. 17, 2010
Box Score
HOUSTON ---- The Samford volleyball team dropped both of its matches Friday on the opening day of the Rice Invitational II. The Bulldogs fell in the morning match against Stephen F. Austin, 3-1 (19-25, 23-25, 25-17, 19-25), and lost by a score of 3-1 (12-25, 25-23, 24-26, 25-27) to Rice in the evening feature match.
Katie Murphy led the Bulldogs against SFA with 11 kills and five block assists. Allie Bettinger and Elizabeth Neisler followed with nine kills each. Bettinger also added 12 digs, an assist, a solo block and a block assist while Neisler also had one block assist.
Lyndsey Holt posted seven kills and five digs along with a solo block and a block assist while Hillary Fountain and Casey Garvey posted 22 assists each. Fountain added a kill, a block assist and two aces while Garvey also had nine digs and two aces.
Alexis Bauer led her team in digs with 15 while adding one assist and Taylor Palmer and Rachel Gadberry posted five kills each. Palmer also had two block assists while Gadberry had one block assist and two digs.
Allison Gideon and Mary Caitlin Bottles each tallied 10 kills while Gideon also added 28 assists and was two digs away from a triple-double with eight. Madison Hanlan led her team with 14 digs followed by Monica Pannone with 11. Sabrina Burns added seven kills and posted 10 block assists along with a solo block.
Against Rice, Bettinger posted her third double-double of the season with 11 kills and 15 digs along with a block assist and a set assist. Lauren Hutchinson led the Bulldogs with 13 kills and a .476 hitting percentage in her first match back from an illness that kept her out of play for the last week. She also added three block assists.
Fountain tallied 43 assists to go along with seven kills, three aces, three digs and a block assist. Holt also added seven kills while posting four digs, two block assists and an ace. Murphy had eight kills and three digs to go along with four block assists. Neisler had six kills, three block assists and a dig while Samantha Bland added eight digs, two aces and a kill. Garvey posted nine digs, three assists and a kill.
Ashleigh McCord led the Owls with 15 kills followed by Jordan Meredith and Nancy Cole with 14 and 12, respectively. Meredith Schamun posted a double-double with 45 assists and 13 digs while Tracey Lam led her team with 24 digs.
The Bulldogs will play Arkansas State for their final match of the tournament Saturday at 1 p.m. A full recap and box score will be available on www.samfordsports.com. Fans can also follow the action via live stats through links at the Samford volleyball schedule page.
Stephen F. Austin, 3, Samford 1
Samford grabbed the first two points of the first set on back-to-back Ladyjack errors, but SFA came back and put together a 9-4 run to take a three-point lead and force Samford to take a timeout. After the break, the Bulldogs fought to get within two points on a couple of kills by Bettinger, but SFA pushed the lead back out to four and Samford burned its second timeout. Samford could not get anything going, and SFA would go on to win set one, 25-19.
The Bulldogs opened the second set with a 6-1 run to take a quick lead. Garvey sparked the run with an ace and then a Ladyjack error and a kill by Holt had Samford gave Samford a 3-0 advantage early. A service error by Garvey gave SFA its first point of the set but Samford charged back with another 3-0 run to force the Ladyjacks to take a timeout. SFA came back with a 6-3 run to get within two points but Samford forged ahead and maintained a three-point lead.
With the Bulldogs leading 19-16, Samford called a timeout. However, SFA took advantage and came back with a 5-2 run to tie the score at 21. Samford called another timeout but would only score two more points as the Ladyjacks went on to win set two, 25-23.
SFA scored the first two points of the third set before Samford got on the board with a kill by Holt. The Ladyjacks then scored three straight before a kill by Palmer cut the lead to three. SFA held a 7-2 lead until Samford stormed back with a 5-0 run to tie the score at seven with kills by Fountain and Neisler, a block by Neisler and Gadberry and an ace by Fountain.
SFA called a timeout but Samford forged ahead with an 8-4 run to take a 15-12 lead. Garvey served for five consecutive points as Palmer and Murphy stole the lead back for the Bulldogs. The Ladyjacks called a timeout but would only score five more points in the set. Samford extended its lead to as much as eight and went on to win set three, 25-17.
The Bulldogs and Ladyjacks fought through six ties in set four before SFA took a 10-8 lead. Samford called a timeout and after two Ladyjack points, the Bulldogs posted four straight on a couple of SFA errors and kills by Bettinger and Neisler. SFA took a timeout and managed to maintain a three-point lead before Samford called a timeout with the Ladyjacks leading 19-16.
SFA knocked down a block out of the break but Samford responded with three straight points on a kill by Holt and a couple of Ladyjack errors to get within one point and force SFA to call its final timeout of the match. However, the Ladyjacks would come back with five straight points and go on to win the fourth and final set, 25-19.
Rice 3, Samford 1
Rice opened the first set with five straight points to jump out to an early lead. A kill by Murphy and an ace by Holt got the Bulldogs on the board and Samford went on a 5-3 run to get within two points. Rice would forge ahead and take a 16-9 lead, forcing Samford to call a timeout. However, Samford would only score three more points in the set as the Owls went on a 9-3 run to win set one, 25-12.
The Owls took a quick 2-0 lead in the second set but Samford fought back through eight tied scores to take a three-point lead. With the score tied at 12, Samford went on a 5-1 run with the help of kills by Fountain and Neisler and a few Rice errors and took a 16-13 lead which forced an Owl timeout. Rice came back and posted a 4-1 run to tie the score at 17. Samford then took a timeout.
The Bulldogs responded with a run of their own, grabbing three quick points on an Owl service error and two aces by Fountain. Rice then knocked down a kill but Samford forced another timeout after a kill by Hutchinson and a block by Hutchinson and Holt. The Owls scored three straight points out of the break but after another Bulldog timeout, Samford would go on to win the second set, 25-23, on a kill by Murphy.
Samford took a quick 7-3 lead in the third set with the help of kills by Hutchinson, Holt and Fountain. The Owls were forced to take an early timeout but the Bulldogs kept fighting and maintained their four-point lead. With Samford leading 17-13, Rice took another timeout and came back with a 9-5 run to take a one-point lead. Samford called a timeout and cut the lead to one and then a service ace by Bland tied the score at 24. However, Rice would get the 26-24 win on back-to-back Samford errors.
Neisler got the Bulldogs on the board first in the fourth set with a kill but Rice quickly answered back. Three straight kills by Hutchinson, Holt and Neisler gave the Bulldogs a 4-1 lead but the Owls came right back and tied the score. The score was tied four more times before Samford scored four consecutive points to take a 12-8 lead. Rice called a timeout and eventually fought back to tie the score at 18. The Bulldogs refused to relinquish the lead but the Owls stayed on their heels keeping within as much as one point before finally tying the score at 24. A Samford error gave Rice match-point at 25-24 and the Bulldogs called a timeout. Fountain held the Owls with a kill but a kill and a Samford error would give Rice the set four win, 27-25.
