Box Score GREENVILLE, S.C. ---- Facing a 2-0 match deficit at the intermission, Samford fought back to a win set three and nearly force a fifth but its title hopes fell just short, as Georgia Southern downed the Bulldogs 3-1 in Sunday's SoCon Championship.
 
"First, I want to say thank you to everyone who supported us this season," said Head Coach Derek Schroeder, "especially all the friends and family that supported us on social media and were #SamfordStrong.
 
"Tonight was a tough fight against a very tough team.  We got them out of system numerous times in the first three sets and still couldn't do anything to slow them down.  Usually, when we win first contact, we are very hard to beat but we just didn't bring enough blocking and defense tonight."
 
Samford (23-11) was very close to forcing a fifth set, leading 20-17 in the fourth before a late push by Georgia Southern (28-5) eventually closed it out with an 8-3 run to secure their win.  In the loss, Michaela Reesor led the Bulldogs with 19 kills, setting a new Samford single-season record with 497 kills this year.  This beats a nearly 20-year-old record of 496 set by Melissa Karwowski in 1994.  Erin Bognar was in double-digit kills for the third time in the tournament, scoring 13 kills in addition to 12 digs for her fifth double-double of the season.  Stephanie Palmer earned her team-leading eighth double-double of the year with 39 assists and 10 digs.
 
"We did some very nice things out of the break I was proud of," said Schroeder.  "We sped up our offense and started bringing some attackers to the middle of the net.  Reesor and Bognar found some success that way and we snuck a set and almost got away with another in the fourth as well.  Georgia Southern was very good at the end of the fourth."
 
For their efforts over the weekend, Reesor and Chelsi Carter were both named to the All-Tournament team.  Over the weekend's three matches, Reesor earned 44 kills while Carter earned 56 digs and four aces.
 
Georgia Southern jumped ahead to an early four-point lead in set one and stayed ahead by the same margin at the ten-point mark, up 10-6.  Samford would draw within two, trailing 11-9, but Georgia Southern would respond with three in a row to stretch the lead to 14-9, forcing a Bulldog timeout.  Georgia Southern's offense continued to click after the break, as a 6-1 run extended their lead to double digits with Samford taking its last timeout trailing 20-10.  Samford threated to close the gap late, using a 7-3 run to draw within six, trailing 23-17, but a Bulldog service error gave the Eagles set point and a kill by Jamie DeRatt gave Georgia Southern the 25-17 win in the opening frame.
 
Samford's first lead of the match came early in set two, as Reesor broke a 1-1 tie with a service ace to put the Bulldogs in front, 2-1.  Samford would hold the two-point lead at the midway point, 12-10, before Georgia Southern rebounded with four unanswered points to lead 14-12 as Samford took a timeout.  Georgia Southern extended its lead with a 4-2 run, capped by an incredible rally that ended with an Eagle kill as Samford took its last timeout trailing 18-14.  Georgia Southern would hold the four-point lead until, up 21-17, they would close the door with a 4-1 run to win set two, 25-18, and take a 2-0 match lead into the locker room.
 
The lead was traded back and forth early in set three, with neither team able to build a lead larger than two points by the halfway point.  Soon after, Samford started to find a rhythm, taking a 15-12 lead thanks to a huge solo block by Taylor Palmer on Georgia Southern's Kym Coley at the media timeout.  Samford kept rolling out of the break, scoring four crucial points to extend its lead to 19-12 with Georgia Southern burning both its timeouts in the process.  Georgia Southern started to steal some of the momentum back, scoring three in a row to draw back within four points as Samford took a timeout leading 19-15.  Georgia Southern would only score one point in the remainder of the set however as Samford would close out a win with a 5-0 run capped by a Mattie Newson service ace as the Bulldogs won, 25-16, taking a 2-1 match deficit into the fourth set.
 
Set four was another close affair, with an early 3-0 Bulldog lead turning into a 4-4 tie, with each team continuing to trade the lead back and forth.  Tied at 12-12, Samford scored three unanswered points to take a 15-12 lead into the media timeout.  Samford would maintain the lead, hitting the 20-point mark up 20-17, but Georgia Southern would eventually fight back to tie the set at 22-22 with Samford taking a timeout.  A service ace and solo block would give the Eagles match point, up 24-22 as Samford took its final timeout.  Samford would stay alive with a kill by Reesor but a kill by Georgia Southern's Jamie DeRatt would end it as the Eagles won set four, 25-23, to earn a 3-1 SoCon Championship win.
 
With the win, Georgia Southern earns the SoCon's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.  The Eagles will learn their NCAA destination in Sunday night's NCAA selection show on ESPNU at 9:30 p.m. ET.