BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford Bulldogs defeated College of Charleston, 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-17), in the Southern Conference championship match and earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
In a tournament filled with chalk as both top seeds advanced to the title game, the Bulldogs earned the title trophy on their home court and the program's first conference title.
College of Charleston fell in the tournament's title match for the second straight season after the Cougars lost to Georgia Southern, 3-0, in last year's championship game. The Cougars finished the season with a record of 25-10 and a regular season SoCon title. 2011 marked the 10th-straight season that CofC has won either a regular season or tournament title and the 10th-straight trip to the tournament title match.
College of Charleston was led by 15 kills from SoCon Freshman of the Year Sloane White. White hit .500 for the match, and earned a spot on the SoCon All-Tournament team.
In their final matches for the College of Charleston, seniors Sarah Havel and Elyse Chubb made seven kills and six kills, respectively. Senior Hayley Harrell notched two digs. Chubb finished her career with 1218 kills, good for 10th place all-time in school history. She is also second all-time in blocks with 486, with Havel finishing fourth in blocks with 463 for her career. Havel was also named to the All-Tournament team.
Samford was led by Elizabeth Neisler's 13 kills while Katie Murphy notched nine kills. Alexis Bauer was named the tournament's MVP after making 12 digs in the final match. The Bulldogs hit .405 for the match.
In the first set, Samford used an early 11-8 lead to go on a momentous run with multiple kills from Katie Murphy that eventually pushed the lead to 20-11. The Cougars did not wilt, fighting back to make the score 23-18 after a kill from White. However, momentum continued going the Bulldogs' way and a Samford over pass fell in on the back line to give them set point. White made one more kill before Neisler put the game away for the Bulldogs, 25-19. White made a career-high nine kills in the first set and hit .692 to lead CofC.
Samford grabbed a 4-2 lead in the second set, before two bang-bang plays went Samford's way to make the score 6-2. The Bulldogs used the momentum to continue extending the lead, eventually making it to 20-10 and finishing out the second set, 25-15. Neisler was deadly efficient for the Bulldogs with five kills and no errors in the second set. Kelly Kolich came in to make four kills for College of Charleston, but the Cougars only hit .130 while Samford hit .476 in the second set.
College of Charleston only led in the third set after the first point as Samford jumped out to a 15-5 lead quickly. However, the Cougars went on an 8-3 run to cut the lead to 18-13 and forced a Samford timeout. But the Bulldogs quickly responded and raced to a 25-17 set win to take the championship.
