Furman 3, Samford 2
SLIDESHOW
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? In a back-and-forth contest, the South Division’s No. 2-seeded Furman Paladins upset the North Division’s No. 1-seeded Samford Bulldogs, 3-2 (25-13, 19-25, 21-25, 25-19, 19-17).
In the first set, Furman came out on fire and stretched an early 5-4 Lady Paladin lead to eight at 19-11, before taking set one, 25-13. Samford did nothing to help its cause as it had five service errors in the set. The Lady Paladins recorded 14 digs to the Bulldogs’ five and outside hitter Alison West recorded five kills and three digs. Setter Kelly Kirby had three service aces to lead the Lady Paladins. The Bulldogs hit .120 as a team.
After an early Furman lead at 3-2, Samford rebounded in the second set to take it, 25-19. The set was led virtually the entire way by the Bulldogs with Furman always a point or two behind. The Lady Paladins forced a tie 18-18 before the Bulldogs closed out the set scoring seven of the final eight points. Leading the way for the Bulldogs in the second set was outside hitter and SoCon Player of the Year Ashley Adams, who had six kills and a hitting percentage of .667. Outside hitter Sara Sears registered four kills.
After the break, Samford raced out to an early 4-0 lead. However, the Lady Paladins quickly regrouped and forced a tie at seven before taking a 10-8 lead. The Bulldogs battled back, however, and tied the set at 15. Samford then went on a 5-0 run to push the lead to 20-15 and held on for the 25-21 victory to take a 2-1 lead into the fourth set. Adams had nine kills in the third set to lead the Bulldogs. The set saw five ties and four lead changes.
Samford jumped out to an early lead in set four, but the Lady Paladins were able to force ties at six and nine. From there, Furman controlled the set, pushing out ahead by six at 21-15 before closing out the set, winning 25-19 and forcing a fifth and deciding set.
The final set was a back-and-forth battle with neither team being up by more than two points. Furman overcame numerous match point situations to prevail, 19-17. Samford took the early lead and battled the Lady Paladins point for point, with its biggest lead being by two at 8-6. After the side change, Furman rallied to tie it at eight. Samford had its final lead at 16-15 before Furman staved off elimination and tallied the deciding points to seal the match.
For the match, Furman was led by a pair of all-conference performers in West and middle blocker Nicole Palazzo. West tallied 16 digs, 14 kills and five service aces. Palazzo recorded 14 kills and five blocks. Libero Carolyn Nicoletti had 22 digs, while setter Kelsey Salava had 42 assists. In a losing effort, Adams had 24 kills and 11 digs. Setter Hillary Fountain had 51 assists.
Furman improves to 20-13 overall, while Samford falls to 28-5.
Furman now advances to the SoCon Tournament finals, where it will face the winner of the College of Charleston-UNC Greensboro semifinal match. It will be the Paladins’ first finals appearance since 2000, where they lost to Davidson, 3-0. The finals match will begin at 2 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday and can be viewed on SoCon TV. Follow all of Saturday’s semifinal action on soconsports.com.
College of Charleston 3, UNC Greensboro 1
GREENSBORO, N.C. ? The College of Charleston Cougars advanced to the 2008 Southern Conference Tournament finals by defeating the UNC Greensboro Spartans, 3-1. The Cougars are now 26-6, while UNC Greensboro finishes the season 23-10.
In the first set, College of Charleston came out on fire, taking an early 5-0 lead before stretching it to as many as seven at multiple points in the set. UNC Greensboro made a small run to get within four at 23-19, before the Cougars took two of the last three points to close out the set, 25-20. Outside hitter Whitney Russell led the Cougars with five kills and four blocks in the first set, while middle blocker Elyse Chubb had four blocks, as well. UNC Greensboro was held to a .027 hitting percentage.
The Cougars wasted little time in extending their lead as they took the second set, 25-17. CofC opened the set with a 7-2 run, before the Spartans rallied to bring it within two at 10-8. From there on, it was all Cougars as they stretched the lead to 20-12 before closing it out with five of the final 10 points. CofC had a .400 hitting percentage, while Russell and Chubb added two and three blocks, respectively. Russell also had a .714 hit percentage. Setter Cole Dawley had 12 assists.
UNC Greensboro fought back in set four and won a close set, 25-23 despite losing All-SoCon middle blocker Kayren Finney to an injury midway through the set. The Spartans opened up the set with a quick 3-1 lead before CofC tied it up at five, seven and eight. The Cougars then went on a run to take a 12-8 lead. UNCG went on a run of its own, however, to take a 16-14 lead. The remainder of the set went back and forth with the set being tied at 22, before the Spartans took three of the final four points to claim set three. Libero Catherine Hanners led the Spartans with 15 digs, while setter Kimiko Naito and setter Lisa Fawell each had nine assists. CofC was held to a .093 hitting percentage.
College of Charleston closed out the Spartans in the fourth set, 25-17, to take the match and advance to the finals. UNCG took an early 4-2 lead, but the Cougars quickly responded to tie the set at five, before taking the lead for good and winning the set by eight.
Leading the way for the Cougars were Chubb and Russell. Chubb recorded 13 blocks and 10 kills, while Russell had 15 kills and eight blocks. Dawley had 39 assists, 13 digs and five kills. UNC Greensboro’s Branagan Fuller recorded 18 kills, eight digs and four blocks in a losing effort.
With the win, College of Charleston moves on to face Furman in the SoCon Tournament final. It will be the Cougars’ seventh straight appearance in the finals, having won the last four. The match will begin at 2 p.m. and can be seen on SoCon TV.