BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University volleyball capped off an exciting week of action with its third-straight win in a 3-1 (25-23, 28-30, 25-15, 25-12) contest over Furman on Saturday, Oct. 22, inside the Pete Hanna Center.

In a match in honor of her sister and to raise awareness about acute myeloid leukemia, redshirt sophomore Kate Neisler posted her fourth double-double of the season with 10 kills (.240) and ended the night tied for the team high with 18 digs. What Neisler did at the serving stripe was just as important as her offensive and defensive play. She held serve 30 times over the four sets and tallied a trio of service aces.

Senior Erin Bognar posted her eighth double-double of the season with 22 kills (.327) and 17 digs. It's also the sixth time she has posted more than 20 kills in a match and fifth of the season with 15 or more digs.
Hoover, Alabama native Kelsi Hobbs followed up her career-night against Western Carolina with another solid performance where she posted 10 kills and four blocks. Seniors Kiahna Wicks and Gabbi Greenwald recorded five blocks and six blocks a piece respectively.

Series Update
The Bulldogs trimmed down the all-time lead held by the Paladins to 10-15. It was the first meeting between the two squads this season as both will head to the backend of the Southern Conference schedule.

By The Set
Set 1 | W, Samford 25-23 Samford trailed by as many as five points early on in the set but found a way to chip away at the Furman lead. Neisler held serve for seven-straight points which allowed the Bulldogs to race back and take a 13-11 lead over the Paladins. From there Samford opened up an 18-13 lead which was enough to fend off a furious Furman rally.

Set 2 | L, Furman 30-28 Furman carried its late set momentum over to the following set in the match. As both teams jostled for position neither could create separation until Furman gained a set point opportunity with the score 24-22. Samford responded with a kill from Bognar to make the score 24-23 and the set was tied 24-24 on an attack error by Furman's Annie Bierman.
Furman eventually took the set 30-28 on a pair of Samford errors.

Set 3 | W, Samford 25-15 The Bulldogs came of the locker room with a renewed focus to dominate the third set of action. The team hit an outstanding .375 in the set with an incredible sideout average of .810 (13-of-16) while the Paladins offense grew cold with an attack rating of 0.61.
It was close in the set early as there were six ties and a pair of lead changes.

Set 4 | W, Samford 25-15 Samford continued to gain momentum in the fourth set and ran away with the match as there were no ties or lead changes. The Bulldogs defense limited the Paladins to just 12 points while also securing six team blocks.

Next Up
The Bulldogs will take back to the road in a continuation of Southern Conference play as the team travels to Charleston, S.C. to take on The Citadel on Friday, Oct. 28.