Nov. 20, 2011
Box Score
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford Bulldogs swept the No. 2 South seed Furman Sunday, advancing to a conference championship match for the first time in school history. Samford is the first team in the SoCon North Division to make it to the championship since UNC Greensboro in 2007.
"We were very composed and we executed at a very high level tonight," said Head Coach Derek Schroeder. "When you execute like that you will always put yourself in a position to win sets and tonight we made the plays to do so."
Samford (28-4) won each set by at least five points, limiting Furman (21-9) to a .184 hitting percentage. SoCon Player of the Year Elizabeth Neisler led all players with 16 kills and a career-best .652 percentage, only committing one error in 23 attacks. Katie Murphy wasn't far behind Neisler, hitting .562 with 9 kills and no errors in 16 attacks. Alexis Bauer led all players in digs for the second match in a row, tallying 21 of the team's 46. The Bulldogs out-blocked the Paladins 9-1 in team blocks, as all four of Samford's front line players earned at least two blocks each. Natalie Braun was the Paladins' standout performer, earning a triple-double with 10 kills, 13 assists and 14 digs.
"Bauer, Neisler and Murphy were huge for us tonight. They came up big in crucial spots to help us take it to the next level."
Momentum was in Samford's favor early in set one, as they jumped ahead to an 8-3 lead, thanks to extended runs with Neisler and Lauren Hutchinson at the service line. Samford maintained the five-point lead, up 11-6, and setter Casey Garvey dumped over a quick attack to earn a kill, pulling the Bulldogs ahead 12-6 and forcing a Furman timeout. Furman took another timeout after a 5-3 run by Samford, up 17-9. A Samford attack error out the break gave Furman possession and they rattled off three in a row, looking to make a comeback down 13-17. After a timeout, Samford regained the momentum, cruising to a 25-18 set one victory.
Set two had proven problematic for the Bulldogs late in the season, as they had dropped the second frame in four straight matches heading into Sunday. Furman played their closest game of the match, but the Bulldogs managed to pull out a 25-20 win. Furman found themselves up early, 9-7, but the Bulldogs came back with a 6-1 run to give them the three-point lead and force a Paladin timeout. Samford would maintain the three-point lead, hitting the 20-point mark up 20-17. Furman put down two in a row to draw within one, down 19-20, but Samford would only allow them to score one more point for the remainder of the set, earning the 25-20 win.
Samford's most decisive win came in the third and final set, winning 25-13 to secure their first sweep since Nov. 4 against Elon and, more importantly, a spot in the SoCon title game. The Bulldogs were firing on all cylinders, hitting a match-high .469 as a team, with Murphy a perfect 4-4 in kills and attacks. Chelsi Carter started the match at the service line and led the Bulldogs to an early 4-0 lead. Up 9-5, Hutchinson knocked in a service ace to double-up the Paladins and force them to take a timeout. Hutchinson would serve two more after the break and, up 13-7, Michaela Reesor would serve up three of her own to force another timeout with the Bulldogs up 16-7. Hutchinson would earn two kills in the closing stretch, including a kill to give the Bulldogs match point, up 24-12. Furman's Kelly Kirby earned a kill but Reesor followed with a kill of her own, punching the Bulldogs' ticket to Monday's championship match with a 25-13 set three win.
Both No. 1 seeds will square off Monday, as Samford will face the No. 1 South seed College of Charleston on tomorrow at 6 p.m. CT in the Pete Hanna Center. The Cougars defeated the No. 2 North seed Appalachian State in four sets Sunday, moving to their 10th-consecutive title match. The match will be streamed live on ESPN3.
Other Sunday Matches
(#1 South) College of Charleston def. (#2 North) Appalachian State, 3-1
