Sept. 6, 2008

Final Stats

KANSAS CITY, Mo. ---- The Samford University volleyball team earned its third win in the UMKC Kangaroo Klassic Saturday morning over the Morgan State Bears. The Bulldogs (5-1, 0-0 SoCon) swept all three games (25-12, 25-12, 25-7) from the Bears and remained undefeated in the tournament.

"We took care of business," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "I am very happy to get both freshmen some productive playing time. This sets up an important match against Florida Atlantic which is important for us to play in a match early in the season that has some meaning and is for a tournament championship."

Senior Sara Sears led the Bulldogs in kills with nine while hitting .294 and grabbing one dig and one block assists. Ashley Adams was right behind with eight, hitting .538 and posted six digs, one ace and one assist. Sheriden Stangorh and Kirstein Sosnowski led Samford in blocks with four assists each. Stangohr also posted six kills and hit .556 while Sosnowski scored on all three of her attacks at the ball.

Rachael Gadberry had the only two blocks solo for the Bulldogs. To that she added, one block assist, one dig, one ace and four kills while hitting .429. Samantha Bland dug seven balls and had two aces while Sarah Gardner grabbed four digs and three aces.

Setter Hillary Fountain dished out 35 assists while digging six balls and grabbing three block assists, one ace and one kill. Libero Courtney Gay led the team with 11 digs and grabbed one assists while Katie Luckman grabbed two kills on three attempts, hitting .667. True freshman Shelby Brandon score on all three of her attempts in her first appearance on the court as a Bulldog while fellow freshman Katie Weber grabbed three block assists, two kills and one dig.

The Bulldogs will wrap up play in the Kangaroo Klassic Saturday afternoon as they take on Florida Atlantic for the tournament championship. Match play begins at 3 p.m. Follow the action via live stats on www.umkckangaroos.com and a full recap and results will be available on www.samfordsports.com upon the completion of the match.

Samford 3, Morgan State 0

Adams put the Bulldogs on the board first in the set one with a kill but the Bears quickly caught up on a Samford error. Two more errors by each team tied the score at two but Morgan State soon took over with a three-point lead. The Bulldogs fought back and tied the score at eight and immediately took over the lead, soon leading by as much as 15. Samford dominated the final third of the set after a Bulldog timeout, going on a 10-3 run to win the first set, 25-12.

Fountain started out the second set for Samford with an ace but with a Morgan State kill and a Samford error, the Bears took a 2-1 lead. That would be the last time the Bears would lead in the match because the Bulldogs would immediately take the lead and continue to widen the gap. With Samford leading by seven, Morgan State took a timeout, but Samford would come out of the break blazing, grabbing seven of the last eight points of the set. Sears grabbed a kill right out of the gate, followed by a block by Sosnowski and Weber and a kill by Ashley Adams. An error by Morgan State and another block by Sosnowski and Weber gave Samford a 12-point lead. After allowing one more point for the Bears, Samford made 25-12 the final score on kills by Weber and Sosnowski.

Samford completely dominated the third set winning, 25-7. Morgan State took the first point of the set but would only get on the board six more times in the set. Four consecutive kills by the Sears and Brandon along with a block by Gadberry gave the Bulldogs a seven-point lead (9-2) before Morgan State took a timeout. However, Samford was relentless after the break, allowing the Bears only five more points in the match, soaring to an 18-point lead to close out the match.