Greenville, S.C. – The Furman volleyball team concluded its regular season schedule on Saturday evening with a 3-0 (23-25, 19-25, 22-25) loss to the Samford Bulldogs in Southern Conference action from Alley Gymnasium.
Furman drops to 7-19 on the season and 2-14 in conference play, while Samford improves to 10-17 overall and 9-7 in the league.
Bella Tolone paced the Paladins offensively with 10 kills and contributed six digs.
Mikaela Schultz provided eight kills and seven digs.
Ella Abraham and
Sarah Turner both dished out 16 assists. Defensively,
Andrea Aceveda led all players with a game high 25 digs.
Kenya McQuirter had a game high 11 kills for the Bulldogs while Lauren Deaton and Briana Holmes each recorded nine. Deaton tallied a team high 15 digs, and Kate Morgan and Andie Salasky registered 12 and 10, respectively. Kayla Keshock posted 33 assists.
The opening set featured 13 ties and eight lead changes with the first 22 points seeing the scored tied nine times. Furman took an early 11-9 lead when Tolone connected on a kill. After Samford evened the score two plays later, the Paladins recorded five of the next six points to go ahead 16-12 capped by a combination block from
Neci Harris, who was honored prior to the match for Senior Night, and
Chandler Parker. The Bulldogs followed with a 5-1 run of their own and tied the score at 17-17, forcing a Furman timeout. The score would be tied four more times after that with the last coming at 23-23. Samford picked up the final two points for the 25-23 win.
The teams traded the first eight points of the second set before the Bulldogs scored four straight to take an 8-4 lead. Samford extended its advantage to 12-7 off a kill by Sarah Hayes Farley. The Paladins responded with a 10-5 run and evened the score at 17-17 on Schultz's kill. Furman stayed within one point, 19-18, several plays later when
Sydney Tanner recorded a kill. The Bulldogs closed out the set on a 6-1 run to win 25-19.
The third set also saw the score tied seven times with five coming within the first 16 points. Tolone tied the score at 8-8 following her kill. Samford answered by scoring eight of the next 12 points and went in front 16-12 after a Paladin attack error. Furman then used a 5-1 run, including three consecutive points, to make the score 17-17 when Tolone and
Kelsey Watkins teamed up for a block. The Paladins also received kills by Parker and Tanner during the run. Furman later got back-to-back kills from Abraham and Harris to put the score at 20-20. The Bulldogs scored five of the last seven points for the 25-22 victory and 3-0 match win.
The Paladins held a 51-50 advantage in digs and led 6.0-5.0 in total team blocks. Watkins had a team high three blocks (one solo, two assisted) while Tanner provided two solo and Tolone two assisted.
Furman is the No. 9 seed in next week's SoCon Volleyball Championship and will travel to eighth-seeded Chattanooga for a first round match on Monday, November 15 at 6 p.m.
