Box Score Box score (pdf)
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Despite opening the match with the wins in the first two sets, the Wofford volleyball team’s upset bid over Samford came up short as the Terriers fell 3-2 (26-28, 22-25, 25-17, 25-21, 15-10) Sunday afternoon in a Southern Conference match in the Benjamin Johnson Arena.
Wofford falls to 14-11 overall and 4-8 in SoCon play, while Samford improves to 17-8 overall and 9-2 in the conference.
Samford opened the match with an 8-3 lead, but Wofford used a 4-2 run to cut the lead to 10-7 on a kill from Rachel Woodlee. The Terriers were able to cut the lead to one point three times, 14-13, 15-14, 16-15, but the Bulldogs pushed the gap back to three points, 18-15, with a 2-0 run on a kill by Casey Carvey and a Woffod attack error. Wofford responded with a 3-0 run sparked by a kill from Arden Anderson. Samford answered with a 4-1 run take the lead back out the three points, 22-19. Wofford again fought back facing set point, 24-23, tied the set on Bulldog ball handling error. Wofford fought off another set point at 25-24 with a kill from Burnett to tie the set at 25. After kill from Samford’s Micaela Reesor to give the Bulldogs their third set point, Wofford again pulled even on a Burnett kill and earn its first set point on a solo block from Woodlee. Wofford won the set, 28-26, on a Samford attack error.
Again it was Samford that took an early lead in the second set, 13-9, but Wofford rallied back to tie the set at 16 with a 7-3 run sparked by a Woodlee kill. With the score tied at 18, Wofford rallied off two points to take a 20-18 lead on a kill by Amanda Liguori and a solo block by Burnett. Wofford held on for the 25-22 set two win as they took a 2-0 lead in the match.
The third set was all Samford as the Bulldogs took an early 14-7 lead. Samford led wire-to-wire as they claimed the set 25-17.
In the fourth set, Wofford jumped out to an 8-3 lead and pushed the lead out to six points, 12-6, on a kill by Liguori. Samford kept chipping away at the Wofford lead before they forced a tie at 19 on a kill by Reesor. Samford limited Wofford to just two points over the final seven as the Bulldogs even the match at two sets apiece with a 25-21 win.
With the score tied at three in the fifth set, Samford went on a 5-1 run to take an 8-4 lead. Wofford battled back to cut the lead to one point, 8-7, but Samford ended the set on a 7-3 run to survive the Terrier upset bid 15-10. The Bulldogs hit .200 in the final set, while Wofford held a zero hitting percentage.
Burnett and Liguori led Wofford with 13 kills each. Burnett held a .320 hitting percentage, while Liguori collected 13 digs to earn her seventh double-double of the season. Woodlee added 12 kills. Burnett also set a new career-high with 20 points in the match. She added five solo blocks, and two block assists and two block assists. Reagan Styles collected a team-high 19 digs, while Bekah Dorsey added 46 assists.
Samford was led by Reesor who recorded 33 kills on 64 attempts with nine errors for a .375 hitting percentage. Elizabeth Neisler added 16 kills. Garvey handed out 71 assists, while Alexis Bauer picked up a match-high 34 digs.
Wofford will return to the court Friday, November 2 against the College of Charleston in the Benjamin Johnson Arena.
