Samford 3, Chattanooga 1

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- Samford hosted the Chattanooga Mocs Tuesday night in a mid-week matchup, falling in the first set but rebounding for three straight to earn the 3-1 win.

Samford (18-8, 10-2 SoCon) dropped the opening set, committing eight errors in the frame, but hit for a combined .297 clip in the remaining three sets to earn the win.  Lauren Hutchinson led the attack from the middle, scoring 15 kills on 28 swings with only three errors while pairing up for five assisted blocks and adding a solo block as well.  SoCon Offensive Player of the Week Michaela Reesor was right behind Hutchinson with 14 kills of her own, while Elizabeth Neisler added 13.  Casey Garvey tallied 50 assists, her fourth-straight match with at least 50, and added 10 digs for her seventh double-double of the season, her third in the last four matches.

Chattanooga (10-17, 4-8 SoCon) jumped ahead early but faltered in the remaining three frames, hitting .165 as a team.  Julimar Alvarado led the attack with 13 kills while SoCon-leader Paula Passmore led the defense with 27 digs.

The Mocs stole the early momentum in set one, jumping ahead 8-4 and holding the four-point lead until, up 14-10, Samford began to claw back and drew within one, down 13-14.  Samford took a timeout trailing 17-14 and Chattanooga came out of the break with three points in a row to go up 20-14, forcing the Bulldogs to take another quick timeout.  Samford narrowed it to a two-point deficit, down 24-22, but a Bulldog service error gave the Mocs the 25-22 set win and the early 1-0 match lead.

Neither team could gain a significant lead to begin set two.  Tied at 11-11, Samford finally started to pull away, scoring three points to go up 14-11 as Chattanooga took a timeout.  Each team scored five and a kill by Neisler made it 20-16, as the Mocs took another timeout.  Chattanooga scored three in a row to draw within one but the Bulldogs closed out the set with Alexis Bauer at the service line, eventually winning 25-20 to even the match at 1-1.

Set three was the most definitive win of the match, with Samford hitting .303 to Chattanooga’s .029.  The first half of the match was very even, with Samford only holding a one-point lead at the halfway point, up 13-12.  However, up 18-16, the Bulldogs closed out the set with a dominant run, scoring seven unanswered points to win the set 25-16.

Tied at 8-8 in the fourth set, consecutive kills by Neisler and an assisted block by Hutchinson and Erika Devaughn made it 11-8, forcing the Mocs to take a timeout.  Later, up 15-12, two kills by Katie Murphy and another by Reesor would stretch Samford’s lead to six, up 18-12, with the Mocs taking yet another timeout.  Chattanooga started to close the gap late, drawing within one, down 23-22.  Neisler slammed down a kill and paired up for a block with Murphy to end the set, giving Samford the 25-22 win and the 3-1 match victory.

Samford will host its final two games of the 2012 season this weekend.  First, the Bulldogs play their annual Dig Pink game on Friday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m., with proceeds from the match vs. Elon going to the Side-Out Foundation to raise funds in the fight against Breast Cancer.  Saturday, Nov. 3, will be Senior Day for six members of the team as they face UNCG at 7 p.m.