JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (Nov. 3, 2023) – The ETSU volleyball team saw its three-match winning streak come to an end on Friday as the Buccaneers fell in five sets to Samford (25-18, 21-25, 25-27, 25-23, 19-17) at Brooks Gym.
 
Stat Standouts – Offensively, the Bucs had a trio of players reach double digit kill totals. Amanda Lowe led the way with 15 kills with the duo of Jenna Forster and Brianna Cantrell not far behind with 13 and 12 kills, respectively. Lundyn Coffman (eight kills, .438 hitting percentage, five total blocks) and Abbey Thomas (five kills, .308 hitting percentage, three aces) gave ETSU some stellar production at the net as well. Malgorzata Andersohn notched her 14^th double-double of the season with 26 assists and 15 digs. Jasmal Cruz added 14 digs to back to the Buc defense.
 
Set 1 – Samford came out swinging to open Friday's match. Collectively, the Bulldogs attacked ETSU with an attack percentage of .438 and finished the opening frame with 17 kills. Cantrell helped the Bucs remain within striking distance thanks to five kills in nine tries. Even with Cantrell's effort along with the rest of the Bucs, Samford took the first set, 25-18.
 
Set 2 – The Buccaneers tightened things up in the second and it was a much more back-and-forth stanza. Even with ETSU's improved play defensively, the Bulldogs and Buccaneers were tied at 21-21 late in the set. A 4-0 run by ETSU powered by kills from Coffman and Cantrell to go with a pair of bad sets by Samford gave the second set to the Bucs, 25-21.
 
Set 3 – The tandem of Forster and Lowe combined for 10 kills in the third frame to fuel the Buccaneer attack. Samford slightly outhit the Bucs (.289 to .281) and had four players with three or more kills in the third. Samford briefly had a set point but a service error returned the ball back to the Buccaneers. The two teams traded the next few points before a Samford attack error sealed the set for ETSU, 27-25.
 
Set 4 – Looking to close out its fourth straight victory, ETSU was locked in a battle in the fourth. 11 tied scores and eight lead changes were included in the fourth set. ETSU led by two, 21-19, before a 3-0 Samford run forced the Bucs to burn a timeout, 22-21. The Buccaneers were within a point again after a kill by Lowe made the score 24-23. However, the Bulldogs capped the fourth with a kill to force a fifth set, 25-23.
 
Set 5 – There was little to no breathing room for either team in the fifth set. The score was tied an incredible 15 times in the fifth set. Both squads had chances to win with match point opportunities and even pushed it passed the usual 15 points to decide the winner. With the score tied 17-17, Samford notched back-to-back kills to finish off the match, 19-17.
 
Next Up – ETSU, now 5-19 overall and 5-8 in SoCon play, will wrap up its home schedule on Saturday when it welcomes Mercer to Brooks Gym. Prior to the match, ETSU will honor its four seniors. First serve between the Bucs and Bears is set for 6 p.m.  
 
For more information on Buccaneer volleyball, visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the volleyball tab.