Sept. 24, 2010
Box Score
GREENSBORO, N.C. ---- The Samford University volleyball team dropped its first Southern Conference match Friday evening on the road against UNC Greensboro. It is the first time the Bulldogs have lost a league season opener since Samford joined the Southern Conference in 2008.
After falling in the first set, 25-16, the Bulldogs fought back in the second set and took the Spartans to extra points but eventually fell, 30-28. The Spartans then took the final set, 25-20.
"We need to get used to the fact that teams are going to come at us this hard all year," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "We prepared well and so did UNCG. They just made more plays. We had opportunities throughout sets two and three to make plays and turn the pressure, but we just missed those contacts."
Samford (6-9, 0-1 SoCon) was led by Lauren Hutchinson who posted 12 kills and hit .421 in the three-set match. She also added two block assists, a dig and an ace. Katie Murphy had nine kills and two block assists while Allie Bettinger tallied eight kills and three digs. Elizabeth Neisler had the second-best hitting percentage for the Bulldogs with a .333 average while knocking down seven kills and also grabbing two digs and two block assists.
Hillary Fountain dished out 37 assists and three digs while posting two kills and an ace as well. Lyndsey Holt led the team in digs with nine followed by Alexis Bauer with seven. Holt also had two kills, an assist and a block assist while Bauer also tallied a kill and an assist. Casey Garvey added two aces and three digs while Samantha Bland had a kill and two assists. Shelby Brandon added a block assist.
UNCG (13-3, 1-0 SoCon) was led by Caley Redden with 12 kills and 10 digs while also hitting .435. Ariel Newman followed with 10 kills and six digs while Ari Lysacek posted 33 assists. Kayren Finney led in blocks with three block assists and a solo block while also posting four kills.
The Bulldogs will take on Elon at Alumni Gym Saturday night at 6 p.m. Fans can follow the action via live stats through links at the Samford volleyball schedule page. A full recap and results will be available on www.samfordsports.com upon the completion of the match.
UNCG 3, Samford 0
UNCG grabbed the first point of the match on an attack error by Hutchinson, but Hutchinson came right back with two consecutive kills to take a 2-1 lead. The Spartans then made a 5-1 run to take a three point lead. Samford cut the lead to two on a kill by Bettinger but UNCG pushed the gap out to five and forced Samford to take a timeout.
A kill by Redden pushed the lead to six but Samford fought to stay in it and not let the Spartans extend their lead. With UNCG leading 20-14, the Bulldogs took a timeout and came back with a kill by Fountain to cut the lead to five. However, the Spartans would score four straight to get to set point. A kill by Murphy held UNCG at set point, but the Spartans would win set one, 25-16 on a kill by Billi Baker.
Neisler scored the first point of the second set for the Bulldogs with a kill. After a kill by Finney, Samford tacked on three straight points with two kills by Hutchinson and a block by Holt and Murphy to take a three-point lead. Samford forged ahead and eventually extended that lead to five, forcing UNCG to take its first timeout of the match. The Spartans came out of the break with three straight points to get within two and Samford decided to call a timeout.
Samford came back with a kill by Bettinger but the Spartans would go on a 6-3 run to get within one point before Samford called another timeout. Neisler roared back with a kill but a Samford error and a kill by Redden tied the score at 22. Another Bulldog error gave UNCG the lead but a kill by Bland and a Spartan error gave the lead back to the Bulldogs and put Samford at set point for the first time in the match.
UNCG called a timeout and came back with a kill to tie the score at 24, but Samford took the lead back on a kill by Murphy. Twice more the Spartans would tie the score and Samford would take the lead until, with the score tied at 27, a kill by Redden gave UNCG the lead. Neisler came back to tie the score at 28 but UNCG would tack on two more and go on to win set two, 30-28.
The teams fought through seven tied scores at the beginning of set three before UNCG finally took a four-point lead. Samford called a timeout, trailing 15-11, and came out of the break with a kill by Hutchinson to cut the lead to three. The Bulldogs got within two points twice on an ace by Garvey and a kill by Murphy, but UNCG continued to press and force another Bulldog timeout with the score at 20-16.
Bettinger knocked down a kill after the break and after a UNCG kill by Finney, Hutchinson cut the Spartan lead to three with a kill. However, three straight points gave the Spartans a six-point lead again and match point. Samford held them at match point twice with a kill by Hutchinson and a block by Murphy and Brandon, but a kill by Redden secured the 25-20 win.
