Murray State University Athletics
Murray State
Samford
Volleyball Falls At Samford In Five Games
10/20/2007 5:00:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
Murray State was able to get out to a two-games-to-one lead in its match at Ohio Valley Conference rival Samford, but a tenacious front-line Bulldog defense brought Samford back, taking the match in five games, 30-21, 20-30, 27-30, 30-21, 15-7.
In the first game, Samford pulled ahead early on and was able to keep its lead, winning the game 30-21. Freshman Sara Hayden and junior outside hitters Alison Mugler and Alyssa Groves led Murray State with four kills apiece.
In the second game, Murray State led 6-5 before running off three straight points behind the serving of senior middle hitter Tara DeMage. The Racers did the same thing with a 10-7 lead, scoring three straight behind the service of Hayden to vault out to a 13-7 lead en route to the 30-20 Game 2 win. DeMage led MSU in Game 2 with six kills, hitting .333 in that game with only two errors in 12 attacks. Freshman outside hitter Becca Lamb had five kills and no errors in 12 attacks, hitting .417 in Game 2, while Mugler had four kills in the second game.
In Game 3, the Bulldogs vaulted out to a 10-6 lead before MSU started chipping away at the lead. Trailing 12-10, Murray State scored four straight points behind the serving of sophomore setter Cassie Chesney to take a 14-12 lead. Three-point strings behind Mugler and Chesney helped the Racers win Game 3 30-27. Mugler had a team-high six kills in the third game for MSU.
In the fourth game, Murray State held a 10-9 lead before the Bulldogs ran off five straight points to take a 14-10 lead. The Racers were able to keep pace until Samford ran off six straight to vault ahead 24-17, winning Game 4 30-21 and forcing a deciding fifth game.
In Game 5, Samford opened with three straight blocks to take a 3-0 lead. Murray State responded, scoring three straight behind the serving of freshman outside hitter Ashley Nenninger to knot the game at 3-3. The Bulldogs scored two points to take a 5-3 lead, and after an MSU sideout, scored two more to take a 7-4 lead. The Racers scored twice to pull to within 7-6, but the Bulldogs ran offseven straight to get to match point at 14-7. An exchange of sideouts game Samford the game, 15-7, winning the match three games to two.
Murray State (12-11, 9-4 OVC) was led by Groves, who had 17 kills and 17 digs. Mugler added 15 kills, hitting .314, and a co-team-high 18 digs, while DeMage and Lamb each had 14 kills.
Chesney handed out 57 assists, while Nenninger served up two aces. DeMage also had 18 digs for MSU, while Chesney had 13 and Hayden had 10. Lamb had a team-high two blocks for the Racers.
Samford (12-10, 7-6 OVC) was led by Kirstein Sosnowski, who had 20 kills and hit .474. Angela Dempski had 19 kills with a .395 percentage, while Sheriden Stangohr had 10 kills. Hillary Fountain handed out 61 assists, while Sarah Gardner had five aces. Courtney Gay had 27 digs, while Gardner had 13 and Samantha Bland had 10. Stangohr had 10 blocks, while Dempski had seven.
Murray State returns home to take on UT Martin on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Racer Arena. The Racers played nine of its last 12 matches on the road, going 9-3 in that stretch.
