Volleyball Falls To Tennessee State In Three Straight Games

--- Tigers hand Bulldogs their second conference loss ---

Sept. 23, 2006

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ---- The Samford volleyball team falls to 5-11 on the season as they fall to the Tigers of Tennessee State today in three straight games. This is the Bulldogs’ second conference loss of the season.

The Tigers ran away with game one, taking the early lead and not letting up. Samford was behind by as much as 10 at one point, and the Tigers won game one, 30-19.

In the second game, Samford jumped to the get the first lead. However, Tennessee State came back to tie the game at four and would eventually take the lead. The Tigers again lead by as much as 10, winning game two, 30-20.

Game three was a back-and-forth game, each team fighting for the lead every point. Samford led by a margin of five in the middle of the game, but the Tigers would close the gap to two, tie it at 28, and then take the one point lead. The game was tie a few more times before Tennessee State came out on top, 34-32.

Sophomore Libero/setter Courtney Gay led the Bulldogs with a hitting percentage of .500 and 27 assists. Sophomore outside hitter Sara Sears led with 10 kills and 11 points, and sophomore middle blocker followed with seven kills, six block solos, and 10 points. Despite the loss, Samford out-blocked the Tigers, 8-6. Freshman outside hitter Katie Luckman had three kills and a .333 hitting percentage, and sophomore middle blocker Kirstein Sosnowski posted four kills and 15 attacks.

“We had to change our lineup today due to Tennessee State’s size,” said Head Coach Michelle Durban. “I was very please with the way that Katie (Luckman) and Kirstein (Sosnowski) came in off the bench and played hard.”

The Bulldogs will next travel to Jacksonville, Ala., on Wednesday, Sept. 27, to take on the Jacksonville State Gamecocks at 7 p.m. Then Samford will stay on the road for the weekend, traveling to Tennessee Tech on Saturday, Sept. 30.

*** SAMFORD BULLDOGS ***