Wofford College Athletics

SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Thanks to a stout blocking effort and a pair of career-best ace efforts, the Wofford volleyball team secured a four-set win (25-19, 25-15, 16-25, 25-16) over the Samford Bulldogs inside the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. With the Friday night win, the Terriers improve to 16-11 on the season with an 8-7 SoCon clip. The Bulldogs drop to 16-12, 11-5 in league play.
 
With the Terriers now a match above .500 in SoCon play with just one league contest remaining, Wofford has now guaranteed a fourth-straight season with at least a .500 record in conference action. The Terrier winning streak has now stretched to three in a row.
 
"It's great. We had the bye weekend this past weekend, so really the last eight days we've just been practicing against ourselves," said assistant coach Justin Sanders on the winning streak. "So it was great to finally play against different competition in a great opponent in Samford. It was good to keep that winning streak rolling. Hope to keep it going for tomorrow against Mercer."
 
Wofford owned the net in the contest, swatting 11 blocks while allowing just four swats by Samford. The Terrier serve was in full effect, as Wofford delivered nine aces to Samford's six. The Bulldogs hit at a .187 rate with 22 errors, and Wofford out-paced that mark well with a .297 percentage and just 13 errors.
 
"Tonight I think it was just about being very disciplined and moving side-to-side," said top-blocker Sarah Barham of the team's net-minding. "Their pins are very strong on their team, so it was really important to stay disciplined and stay loaded so you can move side-to-side and just be big at the net."
 
Three Terriers tallied double-digit kill totals, with Bella Zeman and Sarah MacLean leading the way at 11 apiece. Zeman has notched double-digits in seven of the last nine matches, and she also reached the 300-kill mark on the season. MacLean was errorless on the attack, her 11 kills coming on 18 swings for a career-high .611 percentage.
 
"We were off last weekend, so we all kind of missed playing," said MacLean. "We've been working really hard this week to go at it for this game. Vic [Hensley] was delivering great balls, and that just made it a lot easier."
 
Millie Loehr was the final Terrier in double figures with 10 kills. She led the service efforts with a career-best four aces, tying the single-match high for a Terrier this season. Mary Emily Morgan was right behind with three aces of her own, tying her career high.
 
"It feels great," said Loehr of her career high. "It really just goes back to what we've been working on in practice. We've been working on serving hard and marking sure to keep that pressure to keep other teams out of system. Just makes everything else easier, makes our defense easier. It feels great."
 
Sarah Barham blocked the best as per usual, topping the team with six swats. She added seven kills on 14 attempts for a .500 clip while committing no errors like MacLean.
 
Victoria Hensley paced the offense with 36 assists, her fifth-straight match over 30 and 11^th in the last 13. The freshman added four kills to match her career high. Abbey Richman totaled 18 digs to lead the way, her 19^th in a row with double figures. Morgan was just behind with 15.
 
A seven-point run early in the first set gave Wofford a quick 8-4 advantage, with the run highlighted by two Millie Loehr aces, setting a tone for the match. Though Samford would stay on Wofford's heels, the Terriers staved off the Bulldogs for a 25-19 set one win.
 
Set two was also close through the first half with the Terriers holding a 14-11 lead. But Wofford found a groove for a five-point run punctuated by three consecutive blocks for a 19-11 margin. Riding the momentum, Wofford surrendered only four more points to Samford as the Terriers grabbed a 10-point win (25-15) in the second set.
 
Samford won the first point of the third frame, and needing a bounce-back effort the Bulldogs held off the Terriers in what was a close battle the majority of the way. Samford held a 17-15 edge before catching fire, rattling off seven-straight points to reach set point. Sarah MacLean notched a kill to halt the run and hopefully set up a comeback, but the Bulldogs claimed the following point to force set four.
 
A five-point run early had Wofford up 9-3, and that momentum carried Wofford the rest of the way. The hole was tough for Samford to climb out of, though the Bulldogs gave an effort. But with a 20-15 lead, Wofford secured five of the next six points to claim the win over Samford.
 
The Terriers remain at home tomorrow night for the regular-season finale, hosting Senior Night against Mercer. The match against the Bears is set to begin at 7:00 p.m. with Senior Night festivities being held prior to the match.