Samford and Georgia Southern Advanced to SoCon Championship

Samford 3, Furman 0
GREENVILLE, S.C. — Samford advanced to the Southern Conference Championship after sweeping Furman 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-21) on Saturday night.

SoCon Player of the Year Michaela Reesor smashed 15 kills on 26 attacks with four errors to post a .423 hitting mark and lead the Bulldog offense. Katie Murphy added 12 kills and a .588 hitting percentage, while Stephanie Palmer dished out 47 assists in the win.

Furman was led by Andrea Fisher with 11 kills and Jo Wilks’ 37 assists. Elle Ross added 13 digs in a losing effort.

Samford took the first set 25-23 behind six kills from Reesor and four from Murphy, who scored on all four of her attacks in the set. Samford turned a 13-13 tie into a 20-16 lead, using kills from Stephanie Palmer, Gabbi Greenwald, Reesor and Murphy, with Murphy’s moving the lead to four. Furman would not be denied, scrapping back to tie things at 23. The Bulldogs would kill the comeback on the next two points, getting kills from Greenwald and Murphy to earn the set win.

The Bulldogs ran off a 6-1 run in the second set to 20-14 lead, with Reesor getting two of her five kills in the set during that spurt. Furman answered with a 7-1 run of their own, using four Bulldog errors to even the score at 21. The Paladins then committed three straight errors and gave Samford set point at 24-21. Andrea Fisher smashed two straight kills to bring the Paladins within one, but Murphy shut the door with a kill to finish the set.

Samford used six-straight points to help get a 25-21 win in the third set and notch the sweep. The Bulldogs hit .390 in the final stanza and got five kills from Murphy and four from Reesor. The Bulldogs went up 18-11 courtesy of the six point swing, with Erin Bognar firing off three kills to highlight the run.

Samford will face Georgia Southern in the Southern Conference Championship on Sunday at 6 p.m. The match will be broadcast live on ESPN3.

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Georgia Southern took advantage of 30 Appalachian State attack errors and posted 11 team blocks to advance to the Southern Conference Volleyball Championship with a 3-1 (28-26, 24-26, 25-20, 25-23) win.

The Mountaineers fought back from down 23-18 in the fourth and final set to make it a 24-23 match. ASU could not muster enough momentum to even the score, however, as Katie Bange ended the match and the Mountaineer comeback with a kill.

The Eagle defense held the Mountaineers to a .115 hitting percentage, and got 21 digs from Jamie DeRatt in the win. DeRatt also led GSU in kills, finishing the night with 18 kills and earning a double-double. Kym Coley chipped in 12 kills and hit .474 for Georgia Southern.

App got 18 kills from Emily Corrigan and was led by Dalton Tolliver’s .250 hitting clip. Paige Brown dished out 38 assists in the defeat.

Georgia Southern and Appalachian State went back and forth in the opening set, as neither team took a lead of larger than four. ASU took a 24-22 lead on a kill from Emily Corrigan, but back-to-back kills from Katlin Minnerly and Nicole Jeschelnik evened things up. Jamie DeRatt scored a kill to put the Eagles up one before both teams got points on errors. App tied things up on an Eagle attack error, but GSU would score the next two points on a Jeschelnik kill and an ASU attack error to take the set. Georgia Southern held App to a .071 hitting clip in the set.

The second match was equally tight, as the score stayed within three points for the entire set. Corrigan got the Mountaineer offense going in the second set, putting up five kills in the frame. With the set squared up at 24, Corrigan gave ASU set point with a kill before Dalton Tolliver closed things out with a kill of her own. Mahoney led the App defense with nine kills in the set.

GSU went on a 4-0 run in the third set to take a 21-17 advantage, thanks to three App attack errors and a kill by Katie Bange. The Mountaineers could not generate enough offense to close the gap, dropping the set 25-20. ASU committed 11 attack errors in the frame, dropping its hitting percentage in the set to .000. The Eagles defense was stingy in the set picking up five total blocks, two of which were solo blocks from Jeschelnik.

Georgia Southern advances to the Southern Conference Championship game, and will face the winner of Furman and Samford at 6 p.m. on Sunday. The championship match will be broadcast live on ESPN3.