Sept. 1, 2010

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team defeated in-state rival Troy University, 3-1, Wednesday night in a heated match in Samford's Pete Hanna Center. The Bulldogs mounted a comeback after falling in the first set (25-18) and won three straight sets (25-18, 25-12, 25-22) to take the match win.

"We were a little bit anxious in the first set of a home opener but settled down and played well in sets two and three," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "We need to realize when we have a team beat and keep our foot on the gas pedal in set four. We will do better with maturity."

The Bulldogs (3-1) out-blocked the Trojans (1-3), 10 to four and posted an overall team hitting percentage of .250, hitting a match high of .357 in set three.

Red-shirt freshman Lyndsey Holt led the Bulldogs against the Trojans. She recorded her first career double-double with a career-high 11 kills and 13 digs while hitting .259 and also serving up two aces. Sophomore Allie Bettinger posted nine kills and hit .320, committing only one error on the night. She also tallied six digs, three block assists and two aces.

"I was happy with Holt and Allie tonight," Schroeder said. "I think Troy planned to stop our middle blockers and right sides, so they stepped up and put balls away when we needed them to."

Sophomore Lauren Hutchinson posted a team-high .429 hitting percentage, knocking down 11 kills. She also led the team in blocks, along with freshman Katie Murphy, with five blocks. She posted four block assists and one solo block. She also added four digs. Murphy posted nine kills and two digs along with three block assists and two solo blocks.

Sophomore Elizabeth Neisler led the Bulldogs in kills, knocking down 12 while adding two digs and three block assists. Freshman Taylor Palmer added two kills and one block assist while Samantha Bland had one kill and four digs.

Senior Hillary Fountain and sophomore Casey Garvey combined for 45 of Samford's 49 assists on the night. Fountain dished out 28 while also adding a kill and nine digs. Garvey tallied 17 assists while also posting seven digs. Sophomore Alexis Bauer tied Holt with a team-high 13 digs and also added four assists and one ace.

Troy was led by Natasha Kolunija who posted 10 kills followed by Devin Von Pingel with nine. Megan Henderson dished out 34 assists for the Trojans while Lizzie Clough led in digs with 14 followed by Alexandra Alexander and Courtney Cohen with 13 each.

Samford is back in action at home this weekend as it hosts its annual Samford Invitational. The two-day tournament, sponsored by McDonald's and Hampton Inn, includes North Texas, Northwestern State, Tennessee Tech and Syracuse. The Bulldogs get action underway Friday at noon when they take on Northwestern State. Samford will then play again Friday night at 7 p.m. in a meeting with North Texas. Samford's slate Saturday begins at 3 p.m. with Tennessee Tech and will end with a feature match against Syracuse at 7 p.m.

Samford 3, Troy 1

Troy won the first point in the first three sets of the evening. However in set one, Samford answered Troy's match opener with a seven-point run which included kills by Hutchinson, Neisler and Holt. However, Troy surged back to keep the score close and eventually took a four-point lead late in the set. Samford called a timeout to regroup with the Trojans leading 21-18 and after back-to-back kills by Von Pingel and Clough, called another. However, Troy would go on to win the first set, 25-18.

The Trojans took an early lead in set two but Samford roared back to tie the score three times before taking a five-point lead to force Troy to burn its first timeout of the entire match. Out of the break, the Trojans were able to cut the lead to three but Samford forged ahead and pushed its lead back out to six on a block by Hutchinson. Troy took another timeout but would only score twice more as Samford won set two, 25-18, and evened the match score.

Set three began with a Troy 2-0 lead, but things quickly turned around as a block from Hutchinson and Neisler evened the score and an 11-5 run by the Bulldogs gave Samford a six-point lead. Troy took a timeout but Samford extended its lead to nine points with three consecutive points out of the break. Samford then pushed the lead out to 11 on several Trojan errors along with an ace by Bauer and a kill by Holt. Troy used its last timeout of the set but could not get anything going as Samford would go on to win the third set, 25-12.

Samford finally won the first point in set four on a kill by Neisler. The Bulldogs then launched a 7-3 run to take an early five-point lead and force Troy to take a timeout. Troy made it an interesting game out of the break, mounting a 10-7 run to get within one point of the Bulldogs. Samford called a timeout with the score set at 15-14 and with the help of kills by Hutchinson, Holt and Fountain and a few Trojan errors, the Bulldogs were back ahead by three and Troy was taking another timeout. Troy went on a 4-2 run to get within one point again and Samford took its final timeout of the match to regroup. Troy tied the game out of the break but Murphy knocked down back-to-back kills and Holt sealed the deal with an ace on match-point. Samford won set four, 25-22.