Oct. 1, 2011
Box Score
ASHEVILLE, N.C. ---- The Samford Bulldogs fell, 3-0, in a tough fight against the Furman Paladins in their third SoCon match of the season. The first two sets were decided by three and five points, respectively, and the third set went past the 25-point mark, with Furman hitting three in a row to seal the victory.
"We played a much stronger road match today," said Head Coach Derek Schroeder. "I am proud that we made that a priority and accomplished it. Furman is a very good team that served the ball very well and received serves exceptionally well. It's hard to beat any team that's in its system as much as Furman was today.
"We will work on Monday and Tuesday towards winning the first-contact battle when we finally return home!"
Samford (14-3, 1-2 SoCon) and their high-powered offense was limited by Furman (9-6, 2-1 SoCon), with national-leader Lauren Hutchinson limited to a .071 hitting percentage with five kills and four errors on 14 attacks. Elizabeth Neisler was the offensive leader for the third straight game, tallying 18 kills with 41 attacks. The Bulldogs held the edge in digs, 42-34, with libero Alexis Bauer leading the team with 12.
Garvey started the match with three points in a row, the third being a service ace. Furman battled back to take the lead at 5-4 and eventually built that to a 10-5 lead. Samford narrowed the gap, with Neisler slamming home a kill to pull the Bulldogs within two, down 9-11. The Paladins maintained a tight lead through most of the second half, with Samford pulling within one point, down 21-22. Furman answered back with two in a row, forcing a Samford timeout at the set point. Chelsi Carter earned a kill out of the timeout to give Samford possession, but Furman answered back with a kill immediately afterwards to earn the 25-22 win.
In the second set, it was Furman who jumped to the early lead, taking four in a row to start the game. Samford chipped away at the lead, eventually drawing within two, 8-10, thanks to a Neisler kill. Furman answered back with three in a row, jumping ahead by five. Still up by five later in the set, 19-14, Furman allowed Samford to fight back, with the Bulldogs again drawing within two, 19-17. The Paladins ended the set with a 6-3 run, winning the set 25-20.
Furman held a lead for the majority of the first set, though it never was larger than three points until they pulled ahead 16-12. The Bulldogs then rallied to take the lead courtesy of a 6-1 run, putting Samford up 18-17 and forcing a Furman timeout. The teams then traded points back and forth, with Samford making it to set point first up 24-23. Samford was set up for the win three times, but Furman refused to fall, tying at each instance. Tied 26-26, Furman earned two consecutive kills to earn the 28-26 victory and seal the 3-0 match win.
Samford returns home for the first time in over a month on Wednesday, Oct. 5 for a mid-week match against Chattanooga, kicking off the annual Southern Rail Rivalry between the two schools.
