Box Score (PDF) | Box Score (HTML) | Photo Gallery

KENNESAW, Ga. – The Kennesaw State volleyball team dropped a grind-it-out five-set match to Samford Friday night, 21-25, 25-19, 25-22, 15-25, 15-10, to open the Owl Invitational.
 
How it Happened: The Owls (5-3) and Bulldogs (5-2) traded runs to open the match with KSU taking a three-point advantage, 12-9, following a kill and an ace from Lexi Broadwater. KSU managed to hold Samford off and maintain that lead the rest of the set before a kill from Lauren Chastang gave the Owls the 25-21 set victory.
 
It was a similar back-and-forth affair to open the second set before Samford took control, 14-10, following a 3-0 run. The Bulldogs stretched their lead to as high as eight points after duplicate 4-0 runs gave them set point, 24-16. The Owls cut it close with a 3-0 run of their own, but a kill from the Bulldogs evened the match at a set a piece.
 
After Samford took an early lead to open set three, the Owls managed to tie it up, 7-7, after a 3-0 run which featured kills from Jasmine Brown and Chastang followed by an ace from Shelby Dennis. The two teams proceeded to go point-for-point until the Bulldogs rattled off five straight to lead 19-15. KSU pulled it back to within one, 23-22, following another quick 3-0 run, but Samford took the set with back-to-back kills to lead 2-1.
 
KSU gained the early edge in the fourth set, leading 6-3 after kills from Emma Schurfranz and Chastang. The Owls began to push the tempo behind aces from Dennis and Groover, along with kills from Lanie Vantrease and Schurfranz to lead 15-10. They kept that momentum rolling for an 8-2 swing to lead 19-11. The Owls scored five of the last six points to cruise to a 25-15 victory and force a deciding fifth set.
 
KSU jumped out to an early 5-3 lead in the final frame thanks to three kills from Brown and an ace from Broadwater. The Bulldogs responded, though, with a 7-1 run to take a 10-6 lead. The Owls cut the deficit to one, 11-10, following four kills, but Samford took advantage of KSU's miscues to score the final four points and win the match.
 
Notes: Lauren Chastang recorded her sixth double-double of the year with a team-high 18 kills to go along with 20 digs … Karleee Groover recorded her second match this season with over 20 digs, logging 29 on the night … Shelby Dennis logged her third career match with double-digit digs, finishing with 17 … the Owls recorded double-digit aces (12) for the second time this season … Emma Schurfranz recorded 12 kills, her fourth match this year with 10 or more kills … Lexi Broadwater tied her career-high in kills with eight … Broadwater finished the night adding 56 assists and eight digs … Jasmine Brown finished the match with 10 kills, her third career double-digit kill match, while recording a career-high six blocks … KSU opened the match hitting .091 and .043 in the first and second set respectively, before digging in to hit .250 and 0.345 in the third and fourth sets … Samford out-blocked KSU 16-7.
 
Quotes: Head Coach Keith Schunzel
On the team's up-and-down play…
"We deserved to lose tonight. Samford honestly didn't play that well, but we definitely played more inconsistent and as a whole, not confident. We had some decent moments but we were not remotely consistent enough to expect to win a match. Hopefully we can learn that to beat anyone on our schedule, particularly good teams like Samford, that we have to have players who love competing at a high level, who are going to show up every single night, and who allow themselves to be free enough to consistently play at a high level. Until that happens this team will ride the proverbial rollercoaster. We will find out tomorrow night if we learned from tonight or not."
 
Up Next: KSU caps off the Owl invitational against South Alabama Saturday night at 7 p.m.