BIRMINGHAM, ALA. - Lauren Deaton posted 12 kills to lead the Samford volleyball team past Furman, 3-0 (27-25, 25-14, 30-28), Friday night at the Pete Hanna Center in Birmingham, Ala.

The Paladins drop to 6-11 overall and 1-6 in SoCon action, while the Bulldogs improve to 4-15 overall and 3-5 in SoCon play.

Freshman Bella Tolone recorded 10 kills to lead Furman, and sophomore Kelsey Watkins led the Paladins with seven blocks.  Junior Sarah Turner notched a team-high 14 assists, while sophomore Ella Abraham logged 13 assists.  Junior Andrea Aceveda tallied 14 digs to lead the Paladins, and sophomore Maya Mrus added 11 digs. 

Kayla Keshock led the Bulldogs with 39 assists and seven digs, while Kate Morgan also added seven digs. 

The Bulldogs built a slight 5-4 advantage in set one before the Paladins reeled off six-straight points to lead, 10-4, ignited by a solo block by Kelsey Watkins and a block assist by Watkins and Sydney Tanner.  Samford then went on a 10-2 run of its own to take a two point advantage, 14-12.  The Paladins tie the match at 14-all, and the teams battled through six ties to settle at 21-21.  Kills from Neci Harris and Mrus put Furman on top, 24-22, but again the Bulldogs would tie the match at 24-apiece.  Later Mrus kept the Paladins in the match with a kill to bring the score to 25-25, but Samford scored the final two points for a 27-25 victory.

In set two, the Bulldogs jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead, but the Paladins again capitalized off of their blocking game with a block assist by Watkins and Tanner followed by a block assist from Harris and Mrus to cut the deficit to three points at 9-6.  Samford went on a 6-1 run to extend the lead to 15-7, but back to back kills from Chandler Parker coupled with kills from Harris and Tolone kept the Paladins in the match, down four at 17-13.  The Bulldogs ended the set on an 8-1 run to win, 25-14, and take a 2-0 lead into the break.

Furman came out strong to open set three with a 9-5 lead, fueled by a block assist by Harris and Tolone and a solo block from Harris, then the Paladins took advantage of Bulldog errors to extend the lead to 14-7.  The teams traded points before Samford put together a 7-3 run to cut the lead to three at 18-15.  Furman pushed the advantage to 20-15 off a kill by Tolone and a service ace from Abraham, then another kill from Tolone put the Paladins ahead 21-16, but the Bulldogs scored four-straight to cut the deficit to one point, 21-20, and force a Furman timeout.  The Paladins won two out of three points coming out of the timeout to extend the lead to 23-21, but Samford tied the match at 23-all, and the teams battled through five more ties to reach 28-28 before the Bulldogs took the final two points to win the set, 30-28.

The Paladins will square off against Mercer in Macon, Ga., Saturday at 6 p.m.