CHICAGO, Ill. ? In the first of two matches on the day, the South Alabama volleyball team had its three-match win streak snapped Saturday morning when Samford was able to pick up a 3-1 (22-30, 30-22, 28-30, 22-30) win in the second round of the DePaul Invitational held at McGrath Arena.
Markova led South Alabama offensively with a match-high 24 kills. Also finishing the match in double-digit kills was Brittany Blackwelder (15) and Juliana Pallamin de Almeida and Lauren Robbins with 10 each. Sheridan Stanghor was one of three Bulldogs in double figures with 12 kills of her own.
USA (3-2) will continue tournament action later Saturday when it takes on tourney host DePaul at 7:30 p.m. Samford evens its record to 4-4 on the year with the win.
GAME ONE: Samford 30, South Alabama 22
With the score tied at 5-5 early on in game one, Samford used a 7-3 run and took a 12-8 lead on a Kirsten Sosnowski kill, one of her four in the opener. The Bulldogs later grabbed their largest lead of the first game at 23-15 on a Samantha Bland put away. SU went on to take the 30-22 win and a 1-0 lead in the match. Markova led USA offensively in the opener with seven kills. South Alabama didn’t help its cause any as it committed 11 attack errors in game one compared to just two from the Bulldogs.
GAME TWO: South Alabama 30, Samford 22
Game two of the match between the Bulldogs and the Jaguars was tight early on with neither team able to gain more than a two point advantage. With South Alabama leading by two at 15-13, the Jags opened things up when they scored six of the next seven points. Lauren Robbins put USA up by seven at 21-14 with one of her three kills in the game. The Bulldogs were able to narrow the gap to four late, but the Jags evened the match at 1-1 when Markova recorded her third ace of the game to give USA the 30-22 victory.
GAME THREE: Samford 30, South Alabama 28
Just as the second game of the day had, game three saw neither team able to hold more than a three point advantage for most of the game. With the Bulldogs holding game-point at 29-28, Stangohr gave Samford the 30-28 win when she dropped in her ninth kill of the match.
GAME FOUR: Samford 30, South Alabama 22
In the fourth game of the match, Samford jumped out to an early 8-4 lead. USA was able to trim the deficit to one at 14-13 after a pair of Bulldog setting errors, but SU answered right back though with a 14-5 run and took control of the finale with a 28-18 lead. The Bulldogs went on to take the match 3-1 with the 30-22 game four victory. USA again hurt its offensive attack, committing 13 errors in game four.
