Aug. 25, 2007

Box Score

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ---- The Samford volleyball team dropped its first two matches of the season as the Bulldogs to Lipscomb and Belmont in the Magic/Music City Classic in Nashville, Tenn.

In the first match for the Bulldogs, they would take on host team Lipscomb University and fall in three straight games.

It was all tied up for the Bulldogs and the Bisons in the first minutes of game one before Lipscomb took an 11-5 lead at the first timeout. Freshman outside hitter Samantha Bland landed the first point for the Bulldogs with her first kill of the season. The Bisons extended the lead to 12 until Samford came back to close the gap to 10 on another kill by Bland, but Lipscomb would take game one, 30-16.

Lipscomb took an early four-point lead in the second game but the Bulldogs would go on a 4-0 run to close the lead to one on an ace by sophomore defensive specialist Sarah Gardner and then tie the game at seven on a block by senior middle blocker Angela Dempski and freshman setter Hillary Fountain. The Bulldogs and Bisons battled back-and-forth until Lispcomb took a six point lead. Samford took a time out to regroup and then closed the lead to four on a kill by sophomore middle blocker Sheridan Stangohr. Lipscomb, however, would extend the lead to nine and take game two, 30-21.

Samford fell behind early in game three but came back to tie it up on a kill by Stangohr. Lipscomb would commit back-to-back team errors to give the Bulldogs a two-point lead and the Bulldogs began to run away with it. Samford went on an 11-2 run and lead by as much as eight before the Bisons roared back to take the lead from the Bulldogs and win game three, 30-27.

Against Lipscomb, Dempski led the Bulldogs with a .333 hitting percentage. Junior Libero/defensive specialist Courtney Gay tallied 20 digs. Freshman setter Fountain had 25 assists and Bland posted eight kills in their first collegiate match. Stangohr grabbed three blocks while the Bulldogs out-blocked the Bisons, 5-3.

In the afternoon match against the Bruins of Belmont, Samford first fell behind in game one by three but quickly got back in the game. The Bulldogs finally tied it up at eight and eventually took a five point lead on kills by junior middle blockerKirstein Sosnowski, Fountain, Sears and two Belmont team errors. Samford would extend the lead to seven and never look back, taking game one, 30-23.

Samford took the first point in game two on a block by Sosnowski and Stangohr and then took a 2-1 lead on a Sosnowski kill. The Bruins fought back, though, eventually taking an eight point lead. The Bulldogs trimmed the lead to six on aces by Gay and Bland but the Bruins would push the lead back out to nine and take the second game, 30-21.

Belmont took an early 5-1 lead in the third game but Samford quickly closed the gap to within one on a block by Dempski and Fountain, and tied it on another ace by Bland. The Bruins went ahead by one, but the Bulldogs tied it up one more time. Belmont scored the next two points before Stangohr had a block to bring Samford within one, but the Bruins would pull away, leading by as much as nine. Belmont won game three, 30-21.

Game four got off to a close start, each team taking its turn with the lead. As Samford took the lead, 10-9, Belmont took it right back and took a two-point lead, 12-10. On a kill by Sears, the lead was trimmed to one, tied up on a block by Stangohr and the Bulldogs took the lead on a service ace by Dempski. However, the Bruins took the lead back and ran away with the game, 30-23.

Against Belmont, Sears led the team in kills with 11 while Fountain posted a career-high 32 assists. Gardner tallied 25 digs, while Bland grabbed 13 and Sears had 13. Sosnowski contributed to Samford seven blocks with five block assists while Stangohr had four.

"I was very impressed with Hillary and Sam," Samford head coach Michelle Durban said. "They did a very nice job for their first time playing at the collegiate level. Of course, if we can build on that, I think that will be great step for improving this season. We still need to have that competitive fire for every single play. We had spurts of it today but we just need to have it for every single point.

"Against Belmont, we came out and we served more aggressively which helped us get Belmont out of rhythm," said Durban. "If we are able to sustain that through every game we play then that will definitely help us win matches."

Samford will be back in action this Wednesday as the Bulldogs travel to Chattanooga, Tenn., to take on the Mocs of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. Match play begins at 7 p.m. in Maclellan Gym.