Sept. 8, 2007
Box Score
CHICAGO, Ill. - Samford jumped out to an early lead and handed Kennesaw State their fifth consecutive defeat, upending the Owls, 3-0 (30-15, 30-21, 30-27), in the final match of the 2007 DePaul Volleyball Invitational on Saturday evening.
Selina O'Leary was named to the all-tournament team, partly off her 15-dig performance in Saturday's finale in which the Owls record dropped to 2-9. Samford raised their season record to 5-4.
The Owls again had more blocks than their opponent as Lindsey Plotner and Ginny Frederick each had 1.5 blocks in the match. Jenny Black and Sabrita Gulley paced Kennesaw State with nine blocks each while Frederick topped the Owls with 24 assists.
However, it was a poor attack percentage that did in the Owls as Kennesaw State had an .043 percentage for the match while Samford hit at a .255 clip.
In the first game, the Owls fell behind early and were never able to catch up to the Bulldogs. Samford jumped out to a 6-1 lead and the Owls were never able to come within four points of the Bulldogs the remainder of the game.
Plotner brought the Owls to within 12-8 on a strong block of a Sara Sears attack, but Samford responded with two quick points which sparked a 6-1 run, putting the game out of reach.
In the second game, it was the Owls who jumped out to the early lead, taking a 4-1 advantage before Samford tied the match at five apiece. The teams exchanged leads and were tied at seven before Samford used a 4-0 run to pull ahead, 11-7.
Kennesaw State was able to battle back and tie the game at 13-13 on a service ace by O'Leary. But a quick burst by Samford decided the game. Five consecutive points by the Bulldogs made the score 18-13 and KSU didn't come within four points for the remainder of the game.
In the third game, the Owls got off to another poor start and trailed 11-4 before head coach Valerie Jones called a timeout. The move worked well as the Owls scored eight of the next nine points to tie the match. The final two points coming on back-to-back service aces by Eman Burns.
Five ties and six lead changes followed with the Owls building a, 22-19, advantage on a pair of aces by O'Leary and a miss hit by Samford's Samantha Bland. The Bulldogs battled back with three consecutive points of their own to tie the game.
Three lead changes followed and the game was tied, before a kill by Bland ignited a 4-0 run, making the score 29-25. The Owls fought back with a kill by Sabrita Gulley and a kill attempt by Plotner that resulted in an attack error by Angela Dempski. KSU's rally came up short as Sears ended the match with a kill to give Samford the sweep.
Kennesaw State will be back home on Tuesday evening, September 11, when they play host to Presbyterian at 7:00 p.m. at the KSU Convocation Center.
