MACON, Ga. – The Samford volleyball team dropped a hard-fought 3-2 (23-25, 25-19, 21-25, 27-25, 12-15) decision at Mercer in the regular-season finale for both teams Saturday evening at Hawkins Arena.
Samford fell to 14-14 overall and 9-7 in Southern Conference play with the loss. Mercer improved to 16-11 overall and 12-4 in league action. Samford enters next week's SoCon Tournament as the No. 4 seed, and the Bulldogs will take on the No. 5 seed, Furman in Friday's first round.
Samford was led in the match by
Gracie Lynn Butler with 18 kills and 18 digs.
Kaleigh Meritt followed with 15 kills and 15 digs, while
Greer Golden had 13 kills and
Kate Wonus tallied 10 kills.
For Mercer, Kylee Quigley had 17 kills and 13 digs. Gia Padilla tallied 15 kills and 17 digs for the Bears.
In the first set Samford jumped out to an early 4-1 lead on a kill by Wonus. Mercer came back to take an 11-8 lead. Samford then answered to take a 16-13 advantage. With the Bulldogs leading, 23-22, Mercer scored the final three points to take the set, 25-23.
Mercer started the second set quickly, racing out to an 8-2 lead after a kill by Skyler Bumpers. With Samford trailing, 9-3, the Bulldogs went on a 9-2 run to take a 12-11 lead after a kill by Meritt. Samford extended its lead to four points at 17-13. With Samford leading, 21-19, the Bulldogs scored the next four points to take the set, 25-19.
The Bears took a 10-4 lead to start the third set. Samford fought back to tie the score at 15-15 on block assists by Butler and Wonus. Mercer outscored Samford, 10-6 the rest of the way to take the set, 25-21.
In the fourth set, Samford took an early 5-2 lead on a kill by Wonus. Mercer came back to take an 11-9 lead on a kill by Padilla. Samford took a 14-13 lead on a service ace by
Kayla Keshock. The Bears came back to take a 21-17 advantage on a service ace by Quigley. With Mercer leading, 24-19, Samford went on a 6-0 run to take a 25-24 lead. After Mercer tied it at 25-25, Samford scored the next two points to take the set, 27-25, and force a fifth set.
The fifth set was tight throughout. With the score tied at 10-10, Mercer scored five of the next seven points to take the set, 15-12, and the match, 3-2.
Samford's first-round SoCon Tournament match with Furman is set for Friday at 10:30 a.m. (CT) in Spartanburg, S.C.
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