Sept. 27, 2009

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team won its fifth straight match Sunday as the Bulldogs edged out the Elon Phoenix in five sets. The win is the first five-set victory over an opponent for Samford and 19th consecutive win for the Bulldogs at home. Samford has now made it back over the .500 mark, improving to 8-7 overall and 2-0 in league play while Elon falls to 13-2, 1-1 SoCon.

"This season is going to put a lot of grey hairs on my head," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "Systems and efficiency are very important to us and we struggled to find out flow system today. However, it was a good early season win for us to scrap out and win ugly."

Samford came out and dominated the first set winning, 25-14, but Elon answered back winning the second set 25-22 to even the match score. The Bulldogs won the third, 25-22, and then the Phoenix took control of the fourth and won, 25-18. However, Samford was able to hold it together and win the fifth set, 15-9, to clinch the match win.

"Sheriden Stanoghr was great until they changed their block scheme," Schroeder said. "But our freshman outsides stepped up and lead our offense."

Freshmen Allie Bettinger and Elizabeth Neisler led the Bulldogs with 20 and 12 kills, respectively. Bettinger notched her fourth double-double of the season while matching career highs in kills and digs. She also added two block assists and two aces. Neisler matched a career high in kills while added one block solo, one assist and three digs. Stangohr was third on the team in kills against the Phoenix, posting 11 while also grabbing four block assists, five digs one assist and one ace.

Hillary Fountain also posted her fourth double-double of the season with 46 assists and a team-high 18 digs. She led the Bulldogs in hitting with a .364 percentage, tallying four kills on 11 attempts, committing no errors. She dished out 46 assists and served up two aces. Rachel Gadberry had eight kills, hitting the second highest with a.278 percentage. She also added two digs and one assist. Shelby Brandon added seven kills, two block assists and two digs while Casey Garvey had two assists, one ace and seven digs. Alexis Bauer posted 16 digs while also notching a career-high six assists. She also added two aces. Samantha Bland was added 13 digs.

Elon was led by Traci Stewart and Jessica Barrow who both posted 11 kills. Caroline Lemke added 10 kills while leading her team in blocks with two block solos and four block assists. Ali Deatsch led the back row with 25 digs followed by Lizzie West with 15 and Emily Regan with 10. Regan also led in assists with 30.

The Bulldogs will be back in action Wednesday as they close out their three-match home stand with conference rival Chattanooga. Match play begins at 6 p.m.

Samford 3, Elon 2

Samford opened up the first set with a five straight points to take an early lead. Bauer served all five points before committing an error on the serve to get Elon on the board. However, Samford answered back with three more points to push the lead to six on kills by Neisler and Stanoghr and a Phoenix error. Elon fought to get within three but Samford was relentless, dominating the rest of the set. The Bulldog led by as much as 11, and that would be how it ended with a final score of 25-14.

The Bulldogs earned the first point of the second set on an attack error by Elon's Stewart. However, Lemke would focus in a Stangohr on the next play and come up with a block to get the Phoenix on the board. The rest of play would show that this set would be the closest of the match as neither team would lead by more than two until later on. The score was tied at two, three and four before Elon took the lead on an ace and a Samford error. Samford eventually tied the score at 10 on an Elon error and an ace by Gadberry, but Elon would take back over soon enough. The teams would fight through four more tied scores before Elon would push its lead out to three and win, 25-22.

Neisler led Samford to a 3-0 start in set three via two kills and block. A service error by Bauer would give Elon its first point of the set and a kill by Barrow had the Phoenix within one point. Elon eventually tied the score at five before going on a 4-0 run to take the 9-5 lead and force Samford to burn a timeout early. However, Samford came out of the break and put together a 4-1 run to tie the score at 10.

The score would be tied six more times before Samford could break away and take the 21-19 lead on a kill by Bettinger and an ace by Fountain. The Phoenix took a timeout to regroup but Samford kept charging forward. Samford pushed the lead out to three and soon won set three, 25-22 on a service error by Elon's West.

Two blocks by the Phoenix had Samford down 2-0 early in the fourth set. An attack error by Stangohr deepened the lead before Samford finally got a break on a ball handling error by Regan. However, Elon piled it on scoring three straight points to take a 6-1 lead and force Samford to take a timeout. The Bulldogs came out of the break and tacked on three straight points to cut the lead to four but Elon forged ahead and took a six-point lead, holding it for most of the fourth set.

Eventually, Samford climbed back within three on an ace by Bettinger, a kill by Neisler and another ace by Bauer, which forced Elon to take a time out. However, Elon would come out of the break blazing, going on a 7-2 run to win the fourth set, 25-18, and force a fifth set tie-breaker.

Elon was the first to score in the fifth set on a kill by Lemke, but Samford answered back with a kill by Bettinger. Three consecutive points by the Bulldogs had Samford with a 4-1 lead, forcing Elon to take an early time out. Samford was determined, however and put together a 6-2 run to take a 10-4 lead and force the Phoenix to burn their final timeout of the match. Nothing doing, though, as Samford went on to win the fifth in and final set, 15-9.