LARAMIE, Wyo. – The Samford University volleyball team concluded the UniWyo Invitational with a spilt against a pair of teams. The Bulldogs fell in a five set thriller to Eastern Washington then turned around to defeat California State – Northridge 3-1 to end the tournament on Saturday, Sept. 10, at the UniWyo Sports Complex.

Redshirt sophomore Kate Neisler earned a spot on the UniWyo Invitational All-Tournament Team after a series of consistent performances that included a career-high 21 kills in the morning match against Eastern Washington and nine against CSUN.

Game 1 | W, Eastern Washington (25-22, 25-27, 20-25, 25-23, 15-13)

Despite a career-high 21 kills (.320) from redshirt sophomore Kate Neisler, the Bulldogs fell 3-2 to the Eagles (5-3) in the morning match of the UniWyo Invitational. Neisler eclipsed her previous career-high of 19 kills that she set last season against Tennessee State.

Samford's offense was sluggish to start the match as the team only produced 13 kills on 39 attempts with 11 attack errors. The team finished the set with a .051 hitting percentage compared to Eastern Washington's .125.

The Bulldogs bounced back in the second and third sets to take a 2-1 lead into the short intermission. Neisler tallied 11 of her kills those two sets as she hit 4 kills on 13 swings and 7 kills on 11 attempts with no errors. As a team, Samford hit .300 in the third set which was the most efficient set offensively for the match for either team.

Eastern Washington fought back in the fourth and fifth sets to take the match over the Bulldogs.

Game 2 | W, Samford (25-18, 25-21, 23-25, 25-22)

Samford came out swinging in the final match of the day. The offense was rolling from the start as the team his .370 with a 72% sideout rate. T.J. Russell led the charge as she posted six kills (.556) with only one error and was backed up by Neisler who continued to put a good hand on the ball with four kills (.500) and no errors.

The Bulldogs found themselves down 14-10 to the Matadors in the second set of the match but rallied behind Erin Bognar's three-straight kills to take a 16-15 lead. CSUN never recovered and Samford took advantage of two service aces by Russell to extend their lead and eventually take the set.

Samford found itself in a deficit in the third set of the match 12-7 and quickly turned that into a 16-9 lead thanks to a couple of kills from Rachel Diaz and a pair of Bulldog errors.

Down 23-18, Taylor Anderton held serve for five-straight Bulldog points to tie the set 23-23 and almost pulled off a valiant comeback but the Matadors closed out the set with a pair of kills from Nada Dragovic.

In the fourth and deciding set, the Samford offense geared back up for its most efficient outing of the tournament. The Bulldogs hit a solid .406 in the set with 15 kills on 32 attacks with only a pair of errors in the set victory.

Gabbi Greenwald finished the match with 10 kills on 15 swings to hit an even .500 in the match while Russell finished with 14 kills on 24 attacks.?

Next Up

Samford travels down to Ft. Collins, Colorado to take on Wichita State on the campus of Colorado State University. First serve is set for 1 p.m. CDT.