GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Samford Volleyball team matched a season-high with 71 kills and posted a .350 hitting percentage on its way to knocking off Furman 3-1 on Saturday in Southern Conference play.
The win marks the Bulldogs' 11-straight victory over the Paladins and improves them to 8-9 overall and 3-2 in SoCon action. Furman drops to 4-12 on the season and 0-6 versus league opponents.
Four different Bulldogs smashed double-digit kills, with Kenya McQuirter leading the way with a season-high 21. The redshirt-junior outside hitter committed just two attack errors while compiling a .452 hitting percentage.
Gracie Lynn Butler recorded 17 kills and a .351 hitting percentage while Lauren Deaton logged her fourth double-double of the season with a 14-kill, 16-dig effort. Kate Wonus added 10 kills and a .316 hitting percentage.
Kayla Keshock registered her first double-double of the season with a 39-assist, 10-dig effort while Kate Morgan matched Deaton with a game-high 16 digs. Andie Salasky totaled 10 digs while Greer Golden finished with a team-high four blocks and seven kills.
The Bulldogs began to create separation in set one by going up 14-9 after a quick 3-0 run. Samford was able to close out the set by scoring four of the set's final five points to take it 25-16.
In set two, the Bulldogs rattled off a 5-0 run to go up 18-12 but the Paladins slowly fought back to tie the score at 24-all. From there, Furman would go on to score the final two points to claim set two 26-24.
The Bulldogs and Paladins alternated points in set three until a 3-0 run from Samford put them up 17-14. A pair of late kills by Deaton put the Bulldogs up 22-17 and 23-18, providing enough breathing room to claim set three 25-20.
Samford used an early 3-0 run in set four to take an 11-6 lead following a kill from Golden. The turning point came courtesy of a 6-0 run by the Bulldogs that put them up 20-11. The Bulldogs rode the momentum from the run to clinch both the set and the match.
"Today's match was a really solid transfer of practice focus points into competition play," Head Coach Keylor Chan said. "We improved from the block and floor defense to our transition offense and that led to us stringing points together. Furman is a squad that can play with anyone in our conference and we feel really good about our progress in getting to the best version of ourselves as a team."
The Bulldogs will close out their weekend road trip with a 3:00 p.m. (CST) match at the Citadel on Sunday, Oct. 9.
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