Greenville, S.C. – The No. 8 seed Furman volleyball team dropped a 3-0 (14-25, 13-25, 25-27) decision to the second-seeded Samford Bulldogs in the finals of the SoCon Volleyball Championship, Sunday afternoon at Timmons Arena.

Furman's season ends with an 11-19 overall record. Samford improves to 19-12 on the season and earns the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship.

SoCon All-Freshman Team selection Lauren Haynes led the Paladins offensively with nine kills while Mary Beth Headley added seven kills and 12 digs. Morgan Cobb also finished with seven kills. Sarah Turner fell just shy of a double-double on 11 assists and nine digs. Defensively, Andrea Aceveda had a team high 14 digs.

Aceveda concludes her career with the second-most digs in program history behind Meg DeMaar (2014-18) at 1,633.

Kenya McQuirter led all players with 18 kills for the Bulldogs and Kate Wonus contributed nine. Lauren Deaton compiled seven kills and 11 digs. Kayla Keshock dished out 24 assists while Samantha Horn totaled 14. Kate Morgan had a match high 16 digs.

The start of the first set saw both teams split the initial 10 points as Furman tied the score at 5-5 when Headley and Kelsey Watkins combined for a block. The Paladins then recorded three of the next five points and took an 8-7 lead on Haynes' kill. Samford responded by breaking the set open with a 14-3 run and went on to win 25-14.

Headley evened the score at 3-3 early in the second set and the Paladins trailed by one point twice in the early stages with the last coming at 9-8. Cobb trimmed Furman's deficit down to one with her kill. The Bulldogs outscored the Paladins 16-5 the rest of the way for the 25-13 victory.

The third set featured a total of 14 ties and six lead changes. Furman recorded five of the first eight points and held an early 8-4 lead following Abraham's service ace. Samford came back to take a 16-15 lead midway before the Paladins scored three of the next four points to go back ahead 18-17 on a Bulldog service error. Samford took the lead back at 20-18 only to see Furman answer with a 4-1 run to go in front 22-21 after another Bulldog attack error, leading to a Samford timeout. The Paladins would sit at set point leading 24-23 on a kill from Haynes. The Bulldogs closed out the set with four of the last five points to secure the 27-25 win and claim the 2022 SoCon Volleyball Championship.

Furman concluded the match with eight total blocks highlighted by four apiece from Watkins and Grainne McGrath.