Bulldogs Drop Five-Setter To Close Road Weekend

Friday, October 8

Chattanooga, Tenn.

5 PM

Samford University

3-14,2-4SoCon

Chattanooga

6-12,2-3SoCon

Team	1	2	3	4	5	Final F
Samford	25	25	23	16	12	2
Chattanooga	18	19	25	25	15	3

Samford Volleyball takes the court against Troy on September 19, 2021.

Photo by: Chase Cochran | Samford Athletics

Bulldogs Drop Five-Setter To Close Road Weekend

10.8.21 | Women's Volleyball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Samford University volleyball team dropped a heartbreaking five-setter to close out a road weekend, Friday evening.

BOX SCORE (PDF)

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The Bulldogs and Mocs traded three-point runs in the opening moments of the match. The set remained close, but Samford was able to string together several mini-runs to open a slight edge Chattanooga attempted to overcome. However, the Bulldogs stifled the comeback behind a pair of kills from sophomore middle blocker Kate Wonus to secure the first set, 25-18.

Samford looked poised to run away with the second set leading 8-5 early, before a five-point UTC run gave the Mocs a 10-9 lead. However, Samford responded with a pair of four-point runs to take a commanding 17-11 advantage. Even as Chattanooga looked to make a late comeback, the Bulldogs' balanced offensive front locked up the second set 25-19; with a kill from Briana Holmes, Kenya McQuirter, and a service ace from Kayla Keshock.

Following a tough loss the night before, the Bulldogs were hungry for a Friday sweep. Senior outside hitter Lauren Deaton had the Dogs up 7-4, but Chattanooga battled back with several mini-runs to tie the third frame at 14-14. The back-and-forth race to 25 ensued with Samford looking to capitalize off a few UTC miscues and a solo block from Holmes to lead 20-18. The Mocs would not go away quietly overcoming the deficit to take the third set 25-23.

In the fourth frame, the seesaw battle continued as the teams traded points well into the fourth set. The teams remained deadlocked at 12-12, until Chattanooga went on a four-point run to lead 15-12. The momentum turned to the Mocs as they home side ran away with the fourth set 25-16.

The Bulldogs headed to a fifth set for the first time in the 2021 fall season, and the back-and-forth battled continued as freshman libero, Kate Morgan knotted the frame up at 3-3. The Mocs pulled ahead dangerously 8-5 forcing head coach Keylor Chan to call a timeout to stave the momentum. Out of the timeout the Bulldogs went on a 3-1 run as Kate Wonus posted a career high 13^th kill of the match followed by a pair of kills from McQuirter the ended with a Chattanooga timeout. Despite a valiant effort from the Bulldogs, the Mocs closed out the deciding fifth set 15-12.

FROM THE BOX SCORE

Wonus set a new career high in kills with 13 on the night, as one of four Bulldogs with double-digit kills in the match.
McQuirter posted her second-straight match with 20+ kills, while Holmes (11) and Deaton (12) also posted double-digits in the kill column.
Kayla Keshock set the Bulldog offense with 50 assists in the five-set match.
The Mocs were led by Gylian Finch offensively who had 15 kills.

UP NEXT

The Bulldogs have one road game remaining before returning to the Pete Hanna Center as they make the trek to Southern Conference rival Mercer for a midweek matchup Wednesday, Oct. 13 with first serve scheduled for 6 p.m..

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