Busy Early Week for Samford Sports: Volleyball, Baseball, and Women's Golf(!) All in Action
- Chris S
- Mar 17, 2021
- 5 min read
Volleyball
Not as Easy as Sunday: Samford Needs All 5 Sets to Complete Season Sweep of Furman
On Monday, Samford (11-1) was forced to earn their 10 straight victory as they escaped a Paladin comeback by a match score of 3-2. The sets were scored 23-25, 25-18, 25-12, 19-25, 15-9.
Samford led the Paladins in every category on Monday night, totaling 58 kills, 8 service aces, 10 blocks, 54 assists, and 83 digs.
Setter Coinne Meglic had a solid day, leading the team with 3 service aces, 47 assists, and 20 digs. Meglic also tallied 4 blocks, just one shy of Middle Blocker Sierra Rayzor who blocked 5.
Lauren Deaton continued her domination on the outside, leading both teams with 20 kills. This pushes her season total to 226 and her career total out to 1,070 kills. This still ranks 2nd behind The Citadel's Senior De Jesus, but Deaton will have the leaderboard all to herself next year, assuming that the 4 seniors on the Kills leaderboard do not return.
The Bulldogs will be back in action this week as they travel to Tennessee to take on the Mocs of Chattanooga this Sunday and Monday. Samford will then return home to host The Citadel to close out the regular season.
Baseball
6-Run 6th Inning Ensures Samford Defeat @ #2 Mississippi State
Blake Bortak (L, 0-1) was tagged with the loss after starting the game, throwing for 3 full innings, allowing 1 run on 1 hit and 3 walks and getting one third of his outs via the K. Seven relievers were used against the number 2 team in the nation, with all seven totaling 5 innings, 9 runs on 9 hits, 5 walks and 4 strikeouts. There was one hit by pitch and one balk charged to Carson Cupo, who only retired one MSU Bulldog
Garrett Howe extended his hitting steak out to 6, thanks to a bunt single in the First and a lead off double to start off the 4th. David Leadbetter drove in the only RBI of the game with a 2-out single to left field, allowing Towns King to race home from 2nd. Taylor Garris accounted for the 2nd and final run for the Bulldogs on a 2-out walk to Sonny DiChiara when the ball got past the catcher, allowing Garris to score and DiChiara to advance an extra 90 feet.
Samford couldn't complete the comeback, falling to Mississippi State by a score of 10-2. Samford will stop back on campus to refuel the bus, wash the uniforms, and pick up fresh tubs of sunflower seeds and bubble gum as the Bulldogs open SoCon play @ UNCG where the Bulldogs and Spartans will play a doubleheader on Friday before finishing the series with a single game on Saturday. Samford will then be back in Birmingham as they play @ UAB (at Regions Park) for a single game next Tuesday before finally hosting a home series against ETSU.
A note on Softball: Wednesday's game Vs Mississippi State has been postponed until April 13th
Women's Golf
Weather Issues Limit Samford's Comeback
Full disclosure: This was the first ever Golf Tournament that I have attended. My only other experience with Golf was when I caddied for my younger brother during an End-of-Summer-Lessons Tournament. All this to say that this recap won't be as in-depth as, say, Baseball or Softball. But I'll do my best.
Also: after watching each Samford player tee off from the 10th hole, I spent the rest of the day following Tilly Kedzlie and her counterpart from Xavier University, so I will have to rely on the scorecards as reported to Golfstat.com.
Wet grass throughout and a strong head wind on some of the more difficult holes did not help the Bulldogs on Monday and Tuesday as the team shot +43 over 36 hols, earning a 5th place finish at the UAB Spring Invitational. Bailey Dunstan was the best from the Samford squad, shooting +4 and tying for 3rd overall.
Normally, Samford only travels with 5 players as a team's placement is determined by how those 5 perform. However, with UAB hosting the tournament just down Highway 280 from campus, all 7 members of the team made the trip with Tilly Kedzlie and Allison Howard playing as individuals. Practically, that means their scores would not affect how the team places while getting more experience and practice, hopefully improving their chances to "make the cut" for the team for the Chattanooga Tournament on March 29th and 30th.
Before the weather changed everyone's plans, the teams were planning on playing 2 rounds of golf (36 holes) on Monday and then play another 18 on Tuesday. Tilly and her Xavier counterpart sped through the back 9 (Holes 10-18) and the first 8 hole of the front 9 (Holes 1-9) until they caught up to the group of 3 who teed off from Hole 1 and were then forced to play at a snail's pace as to not get too close and/or accidentally hit someone from that group of 3. What would have been a 3 hour round of golf quickly turned into a 4 hour round just because of that final hole.
In regards to the team, the Bulldogs struggled on Par 4s, shooting +33. However, the team performed better on Par 5s, shooting +15. Bailey Dunstan led the way for the Bulldogs, tying for 3rd overall with +4 over both rounds and shooting just +1 on the second time around the course.
Samford was represented up and down the individual leaderboard:
T3: Bailey Dunstan +4
T19: Mary Kate Horton +12
T22: Sophie Membrino +13
T34: Allison Howard (played as an individual) +16
T34: Kelley Topiwala +16
T47: Allison Dusek +20
T55: Tilly Kedlzie +25
There were a total of 63 golfers competing at the UAB Spring Invitational
After the first round, Samford was in sole possession of 6th place. However, an improved 2nd round that started at 5:30 to let storms pass through allowed the Bulldogs to jump Jacksonville State and finish in the top half of the tournament
Samford has this coming week off before traveling up I-59 to compete in the Chattanooga Invitational, hosted by SoCon rival Chattanooga.
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