OXFORD, Mississippi – The Samford University volleyball team secured a 3-1 victory over Lamar University in the first game of the 2014 Rebel Classic on Friday, Sept. 19, at the Gillom Sports Center. Sophomore
Erin Bognar led the charge with a career-high 20 kills on 42 attempts (.333) in the match.
The Bulldogs (4-6) dropped the first set to the Cardinals (0-10) 22-25 after the team posted a .171 attack percentage. Samford went back and forth with Lamar and eventually held the lead late 21-20 in the set but LU rallied for a 5-1 run to close out.
Samford didn't waiver in their strategy despite giving up an early lead to Lamar
"I was happy we stayed with our game plan and tried to attack at the left pin." Head Coach
Derek Schroeder said.
SU bounced back and took the next three sets 25-16, 25-20 and 25-19 to close out the match. The Samford offense picked it up in the second set and never relinquished the lead as the team improved its attack percentage to an impressive .480 and recorded 15 kills on just 25 attempts with only three errors.
Bognar and
Michaela Reesor combined for five kills each in the set.
Bognar continued pace the offense in the third set as she notched seven kills on 10 attempts (.700) while Reesor followed suit with four kills and three service aces. The Bulldogs jumped on in front early thanks to two Reesor service aces.
Lamar made a late push in the third set and took an 18-17 lead but Samford would not be denied as the team struck for an 8-2 run to end the set and took a 2-1 lead in the match.
Senior
Chelsi Carter scratched out 14 digs in the match to go along with three services aces while sophomore
Erika Pifer tallied 38 assists.
"Erika did a nice job delivering those sets and Erin and Mik (Reesor) made some great attacks off of them. " Schroeder explained.
Samford compiled 15 service aces as a team in the match.
The Bulldogs will be in action again later this afternoon when the team takes on host institution Ole Miss at 5:30 p.m. the game can be found on the SEC Network + through WatchESPN.
