Sept. 25, 2010
Box Score
ELON, N.C. ---- The Samford University volleyball team fell to Elon on the road Saturday in the second half of its Southern Conference opening weekend. The Bulldogs dropped the match, 3-1 (23-25, 25-23, 23-25, 14-25), to the Phoenix. The weekend marks the first time since 2006 Samford has started league play 0-2.
Both teams played a close match for the first three sets, Elon winning the first and third while the Bulldogs took the second. However, Elon dominated the fourth set to win the match and start the conference season 1-0.
"Immaturity and youth is magnified on the road," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "We fought hard today and made more plays. We stayed in our gameplan way better than yesterday. Neisler was a force tonight and Lexi was back to herself after a flat Friday. It's back to work for us on Monday to execute better and better,"
The Bulldogs (6-10, 0-2 SoCon) were led by Elizabeth Neisler who posted a career-high 14 kills and a career-high .423 hitting percentage on the evening. She also added two digs. Allie Bettinger followed with 11 kills and six digs along with an ace and a block assist. Katie Murphy and Lauren Hutchinson each posted eight kills. Murphy added two block assists while Hutchinson had a dig and three block assists.
Hillary Fountain led in assists while also tallying two solo blocks, five digs, three aces and a kill. Alexis Bauer tallied a team-high 19 digs while also grabbing one assist. Samantha Bland followed with 15 digs and added a kill and two assists. Shelby Brandon had five kills, three digs and four block assists while Casey Garvey had two assists and eight digs.
Elon (8-8, 1-0 SoCon) was led by Sarah Schermerhorn and Caroline Lemke who each tallied 10 kills. Lemke also had four solo blocks and a block assist. Megan McMahon posted a team-high 29 assists while Ali Deatsch grabbed 13 digs and Traci Stewart added 12 digs.
Samford is back on the road next Saturday as it travels to Davidson to continue SoCon play. The Bulldogs and the Wildcats will face off at 2 p.m. in Belk Arena.
Elon 3, Samford 1
The first set opened with four ties before Elon finally took a decided lead. With the score tied at 6-6, the Phoenix went on a 4-0 run to take 10-6 lead. Murphy knocked down a kill to cut the lead to three, but Elon answered back with a block and a kill to go ahead by five. With the score at 12-7, Samford called a timeout but Elon came out of the break to take a seven-point lead.
Samford then went on a 4-1 run to cut the lead to four and Elon called a timeout. Samford came back with a 7-5 run to cut the lead to two. With Elon leading 24-22 at set point, Samford called a timeout. Bettinger came back with a kill to get the Bulldogs within one point and Elon called a timeout. However, a Bulldog service error would give Elon the 25-23 win in set one.
Neisler knocked down a kill for the first point of the second set, but a block by Lemke tied the score. Samford then put together a 13-9 run to take a 14-10 lead and force Elon to take a timeout. Both teams traded service errors out of the break but Samford would go on a 4-1 run to keep a five point lead. However, Elon roared right back and got within two with a string of four kills. Samford called a timeout but back-to back kills by the Phoenix tied the score at 21. Samford moved back ahead by two on two kills by Neisler but two errors by Samford tied the game again at 23. Samford took a timeout and roared back, winning the second set by a score of 25-23 on an ace by Fountain.
In the third set, Samford opened up with a quick 9-4 lead with the help of kills by Hutchinson, Bettinger, Murphy and Neisler. Elon took a timeout but Samford forged ahead and kept their five-point lead. However, Elon would eventually cut the lead to two and force Samford to call a timeout. Murphy and Brandon answered back after the break with a block to move back ahead by four, but Elon fought to cut the lead back to two. With the Bulldogs leading 23-21, Samford took a timeout. Three straight attack errors by the Bulldogs gave Elon a 24-23 lead and Schermerhorn sealed the 25-23 win of set three with a kill.
Samford grabbed a quick 2-0 lead in set four with a kill by Hutchinson and an ace by Fountain but Elon would answer back with a 7-3 run to take a 7-5 lead. Samford called a timeout but the Phoenix roared back with a 6-1 run to take an eight-point lead. The only point for the Bulldogs in that run was a kill by Bettinger. With Elon leading 14-6, Samford called a timeout. An Elon error out of the break cut the lead to seven for Samford but the Phoenix scored four straight points to take an 11-point lead. Samford would only score seven more points in the set and Elon would go on to win the fourth set, 25-14.
