GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Samford University volleyball team dropped its third-straight Southern Conference match as Furman University took a 3-0 (25-15, 25-18, 25-17) decision on Friday, Oct. 23, inside Lyles Alley Gymnasium.
 
The Paladins (13-6, 7-2 SoCon) received a complete-match effort from Annie Bierman as she paced all attackers with 17 kills (.351). Junior Gabbi Greenwald paced Samford (8-10, 3-5 SoCon) with nine kills (.333) while the team hit .172 for the match.
 
Furman capitalized on an outstanding sideout percentages of .750, .720 and .660 to keep the pressure on Samford's serve receive the entire match as the Bulldogs posted marks of .450, .510 and .450 for the match.
 
In the initial set of play the Bulldogs found themselves chasing the Paladins on the scoreboard. Thanks to a hot start from Taina Joseph Furman jumped out to a 6-2 lead over Samford in the set.
 
Samford rallied in the middle of the set to trim down the Furman lead to 17-11 by way of a pair of Furman errors, an ace from Mattie Newson and kill from Gabbi Greenwald. Greenwald ended the set with three kills to lead the Bulldogs.
 
The Bulldogs found some consistency in the following set and kept the Paladins close by pulling within a point on several occasion. Freshman Krista Boesing cut down the Furman lead to 12-11 on a cross court kill but the Paladins responded to rally back out 16-12. The lead gained proved to be too much for the young squad.
 
Boesing, Emily Meitz and Kate Neisler each followed up Greenwald's offensive performance with five kills each in the match.
 
The Bulldogs will return to Southern Conference action tomorrow night as the team squares off against UNCG in Greensboro, N.C. with first serve set for 4 p.m. CST.