Sept. 3, 2010
Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team split a pair of matches Friday in the first day of play in the Bulldog Invitational sponsored by McDonald's. The Bulldogs defeated Northwestern State, 3-0 (26-24, 25-17, 25-14), in the first match of the day before falling to North Texas, 3-1 (25-15, 16-25, 23-25, 18-25), in the final match.
Against Northwestern State, Samford's freshmen continued to shine bright for the Bulldogs. After a tight first set with the Lady Demons, Samford sailed through sets No. 2 and No. 3 to win the match.
"Our freshmen picked us up early today," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "Taylor Palmer had some key transition kills and came up with five big blocks for us this afternoon. Katie Murphy showed some of the things we worked on yesterday which led to 11 kills and four blocks for her."
Also leading for the Bulldogs against Northwestern State was Elizabeth Neisler. She posted a team-high 12 kills and hit .333 while adding one dig. Murphy hit a team-high .667, committing only one error on 15 attempts while Allie Bettinger posted a hitting average of .467 with eight kills on 15 attempts. She also led the team in digs with 12 while grabbing one block assist and an ace.
Lauren Hutchinson added nine kills, two blocks and one dig while Palmer added one dig to her four kills and five block assists. Hillary Fountain dished out 27 assists and eight digs while Casey Garvey added 15 assists and four digs against the Demons. Alexis Bauer had nine digs while Samantha Bland had seven. Lyndsey Holt also added four kills, four digs and one ace.
Northwestern State was led by Laranda Spann who tallied 11 kills and three blocks. Lauren Peltier posted 24 assists and Kourtney Adams led the Lady Demons with seven digs.
Against North Texas, the Bulldogs easily won the first set but seemed to lose steam through the remainder of the match.
"We won set one easy and started to feel pretty good about ourselves," Schroeder said. "We lost focus and determination. Once you lose that, a very well-coached and hardworking North Texas team is hard to beat."
Murphy led her team with 14 kills and a .393 hitting percentage followed by Neisler with 13 kills and a .216 hitting percentage. Hutchinson tallied 12 kills on 15 attempts with zero errors for a team-high .750 attack percentage, tying her career high. She also added three digs and two block assists. Bettinger posted four kills and 11 digs along with one assist and two aces.
Palmer recorded three kills, one assist and one dig while Fountain added one kill and four digs as well. Fountain and Garvey combined for 46 assists for Samford. Fountain dished out 21 while Garvey had 22. Bauer posted 10 digs while Bland had three.
North Texas was led by Amy Huddleston who posted 20 kills for a .441 hitting percentage. Shelley Morton and Rachelle Wilson followed with 11 and 10 kills, respectively. Kayla Saey posted 52 assists while Sarah Willey posted 17 digs.
"I have to give Ken Murczek and his staff all the credit," Schroeder said. "They were effectively commit-blocking and were one step ahead of our offense in sets two, three and four."
In other Bulldog Invitational action on Friday, Syracuse beat Tennessee Tech, 3-1, Tennessee Tech defeated Northwestern State, 3-0, and Syracuse beat North Texas, 3-1.
The Bulldogs are back in action Saturday at 3 p.m. as they take on Tennessee Tech in the Pete Hanna Center. They will then close out tournament play with a 7 p.m. meeting with Syracuse. Ronald McDonald will be present for the 7 p.m. match so come out and support Samford volleyball and meet Ronald McDonald.
Samford 3, Northwestern 0
Bettinger got a kill for Samford's first point of the match but Northwestern State answered back with five straight points to take a quick lead. The Bulldogs charged back to tie the score twice but the Lady Demons forged ahead and maintained a four-point lead to force Samford to take its first timeout.
Out of the break, Murphy knocked down a kill to get within three points and spark a 7-4 run for the Bulldogs to tie the score at 19. Northwestern State called a timeout but Samford pressed forward and took a two-point lead on kills by Neisler and Hutchinson. The Lady Demons took a timeout as Samford held set-point and came back with a block to thwart the immediate win. Samford then called a timeout but a Samford error tied the score at 24. However, back-to-back kills by Neisler and Holt gave the Bulldogs the 26-24 win in set one.
The second set was a tight race for the initial lead. Northwestern State won the first point but Samford answered back and took a three point lead (13-10) after fighting through five tied scores. The Lady Demons then took a timeout but Samford went on a 6-4 run to gain a six-point advantage and force Northwestern State to burn its second timeout. Bettinger moved the Bulldogs ahead by seven on a kill and Samford would go on to win set two, 25-17.
Hutchinson record the first point of the third set for the Bulldogs on a kill but the Lady Demons would tie the score several times before Samford could gain a true lead. Kills by Holt and Murphy along with a block by Murphy and Palmer helped give the Bulldogs a four-point lead. Then, three straight kills by Neisler and Hutchinson spread the gap to eight and forced Northwestern State to call a timeout. Bettinger served an ace out of the break and the Lady Demons would only score six more points as the Bulldogs won set three, 25-14.
North Texas 3, Samford 1
North Texas took the first point in set one on a kill by Huddleston but Samford answered back with a kill by Neisler to spark a 7-3 run to take a three-point lead. The Mean Green got within two again but Samford push its lead out to seven points on a few North Texas errors and kills by Bettinger, Murphy and Hutchinson. With the score at 16-9, North Texas called a timeout but Samford forged ahead on a 7-5 run to take a nine-point lead. The Mean Green called another timeout with the score at 23-14, but Samford would go on to win, 25-15.
In set two, each team traded points to start out the match, but North Texas took a three-point lead on a kill and a couple of Bulldog errors before Samford burned an early timeout. Hutchinson knocked down a kill out of the break but North Texas would go on a 14-8 run to take a seven-point lead and force Samford to take another timeout. Trailing 17-10, Samford came out of the break and scored two points, but the Mean Green would hold Samford to only four more points in the set and went on to win set two, 25-16.
Neisler got the Bulldogs on the board first in the third set but North Texas quickly answered back and tied the score. The score was tied 20 times in the third set and the lead changed 13 times. With the score tied at 18, North Texas came out of the break and took the lead back. However, Samford answered with a kill by Fountain to tie the score again and a Mean Green error gave the Bulldogs the lead. However, North Texas would go on to win set three, 25-23.
In the fourth and final set, North Texas quickly jumped out to a 6-2 lead before Samford called a timeout. The Bulldogs fought to keep up but the Mean Green maintained its four-point lead which forced the Bulldogs to call another timeout. North Texas eventually extended its lead to six and would go on to win set four, 25-18.
