Nov. 10, 2007

Box Score

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford volleyball team crushed Morehead State's top-ranked hopes Saturday afternoon as they swept the Eagles in three games (30-25, 37-35, 32-30). In a match that honored seniors Robin Bishop and Angela Dempski, the Bulldogs fought to gain the victory and walked away with the first winning record in Samford volleyball history.

"I think it's a great way to open the Pete Hanna Center, for us to get two wins and to be able to finish our season on a winning note," Samford head coach Michelle Durban said. "It definitely shows how hard this team has worked for this to be the first team in 20 years to have a winning record in Samford volleyball.

"I think Angela and Robin have gone through their ups and downs, and I think it's a great tribute to them to see the team want to work that hard, especially today to send them out on a winning note," said Durban.

The Bulldogs out-blocked their opponents 10-3 and leading that defensive charge were sophomore middle blocker Sheriden Stanoghr and freshman setter Hillary Fountain with five blocks each. Stangohr posted five block assists while Fountain grabbed four assists and one block solo. The sophomore also added 13 kills and one assists while the freshman dished out 42 assists with two aces and nine digs while hitting .333.

"I think we came out very strong in game one and kind of set the tone," Durban said. "And for us to be able to come back in games two and three, especially two with it going back-and-forth and back-and forth. I think it does show that our team does have that confidence finally and I think that will definitely lay the ground work for next year."

Leading the Bulldogs in hitting again was junior middle blocker Kirstein Sosnowski with a .350 average. Sosnowski also added nine kills, having only two errors, with one assist and one block assist. Freshman outside hitter Samantha Bland had eight kills and 17 digs with two block assists while sophomore outside hitter Katie Luckman posted six kills and 15 digs with two assists, one ace and two block assists.

"I think our ball control has allowed us to get our middles and right sides involved," said Durban. "It took some of the pressure off of our outsides, whereas last year we weren't able to do that. I think that just shows how much the program has grown and we finally are in the right direction to head into the Southern Conference, knowing that we've got a core group coming back and we are really just replacing one starter.

Junior Libero Courtney Gay had 20 digs with one assist and one ace while sophomore defensive specialist Sarah Gardner got one kill and 13 digs. Senior middle blocker Angela Dempski posted eight kills hitting .208 and had three digs and four block assists while junior outside hitter Sara Sears added one assist.

The Bulldogs wrap up the season with a 16-13 overall record and an 11-9 record in the Ohio Valley Conference, a feat that has never been done by any other team in Samford history. Samford has now also defeated two top-ranked conference teams and one No. 2 team.

Samford 3, Morehead State 0

Morehead State jumped out to an early lead in game one and soon led by five but Samford charged back to cut the lead to one. With an Eagle error, the game was tied at 13 and another error gave Samford its first lead of the game. Consecutive kills by Dempski and Bland put the Bulldogs up by three but Morehead State would fight back to tie the game at 18. Samford fought through two more ties before taking the lead for good. The Bulldogs would go on to win game one, 30-25.

Game two rivaled the longest game in Samford history that was played at Austin Peay and resulted in a 39-37 loss. The Bulldogs fought through 22 ties and nine lead changes as each team clawed its way through this game a never led bt more that three points. With Morehead State looking at game point (28-29), Dempski put down a kill to tie the game at 29. A kill by Stanoghr gave Samford the one-point lead but the Eagles answered back and tied it at 30. An error by Morehead's Doscher put Samford back onto but a kill by Eagle player Peak tied the game again.

With Morehead State staring at its second game point, Sosnowski and Stangohr came up with a huge block to make the score 32-32. A block by Morehead took the lead back the other way, but a kill by Stangohr tied it again. Two more kills by each team took the score to 34-34 and then an error and kill by Samford brought it to a 35-35 tie. A kill by Luckman gave Samford the lead again and an error by Morehead State would add another point to Samford's score, and the Bulldogs would go on to win, 37-35.

The final game was similar to game two with a close score at each play pushing the game to extra points. Game three included 12 ties but only one lead change. Morehead State captured the lead first and led by as much as only four points. Samford charged through five ties before the cut the lead to one for the rest of the game. With Morehead on the verge of winning game three (28-29), Fountain served up an ace to tie the game a 29. A kill by Doscher put the Eagles ahead again but Stangohr came up with a kill to tie it again at 30 followed by another kills by Stangohr and an ace by Luckman to give Samford the 32-30 win.

*** SAMFORD BULLDOGS ***