Oct. 22, 2011
Box Score
STATESBORO, Ga. ---- Samford volleyball pulled out a close 3-1 victory in a long match against the Georgia Southern Eagles. The Bulldogs won by the minimum two points in two of their three winning sets, extending their winning streak to seven matches.
"That was one of the best matches we played all year," said Head Coach Derek Schroeder. "We limited our errors all weekend and came out with two big road wins."
Samford (21-3, 8-2 SoCon) out-hit Georgia Southern (13-12, 5-4 SoCon) .301-.178, with Lauren Hutchinson (.421) and Elizabeth Neisler (.405) leading the team. The Bulldogs only committed 13 errors and out-blocked the Eagles 11-3, with Neisler and Katie Murphy combining for two solo blocks and ten assisted.
The first set was an extended affair, taking 60 total points to secure the 31-29 Samford victory. This is the highest scoring set so far this season for the Bulldogs. Neisler was the offensive standout in set one, nailing ten kills with no errors on 13 attacks to hit .769. The whole set was tightly contested, with five lead changes before Samford took the first timeout up 21-19. Samford hit set point first, up 24-23, but neither team could pull away by two points. Tied at 29-29, Neisler earned a kill of an Alexis Bauer serve and then Georgia Southern committed an attack error to end the long set in Samford's favor 31-29.
The second set was the most decisive of the four, with Samford able to capitalize on eight Eagle attack errors, while only committing two. Samford earned the first point of the set and never relented the lead after that. Up 10-6, Samford went on an 8-5 run, including two kills by Chelsi Carter, forcing a Georgia Southern timeout. The Bulldogs came out of the break with a 7-5 run, including two kills and a block by Hutchinson, to finish the match at 25-16.
In front of a raucous home crowd, Georgia Southern came back at the end of set three to win 25-23, snapping a 13 set win streak by Samford. Down 2-0, Neisler hit a kill to give Samford possession and Casey Garvey followed with four successful serves in a row to pull ahead 5-2. The Eagles answered right back with five in a row, taking back a 7-5 lead. The teams stayed within two points of each other during the middle portion of the set, with Samford taking a three-point lead thanks to back-to-back kills by Murphy, going up 19-16 and forcing an Eagle timeout. After the 20-point mark, every time Samford pulled ahead, Georgia Southern answered right back with another point to tie it up. Tied at 23-23, the Eagles knocked in two in a row to finish their comeback.
This match was only the eighth so far this season to stretch past three sets, and the Bulldogs were determined not to make it the third match to stretch five sets. Down 4-5 in the early going, Hutchinson served five in a row, pulling ahead 9-5. The match was tied five points before the next timeout, with Samford coming off a 5-2 to pull ahead 22-19 in the late going. The Bulldogs looked to put the match away up 24-20, but the Eagles were looking for a fifth set and grabbed three in a row to narrow the deficit to one point. Samford took a timeout and off a Georgia Southern serve, Neisler put a stamp on the 3-1 win with a kill for the 25th point.
Next week, Samford will take a quick road trip to Chattanooga on Friday, Oct. 28 for a 6 p.m. CT match and will then return home on Saturday, Oct. 29 to face Wofford at 6 p.m.
