By Tyler Wooten
GoSycamores.com

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Indiana State Volleyball followed up its tough loss to South Alabama this morning with a dominant 3-0 win over host school Samford in the night cap to even out to 1-1 at the Marriott Invitational on Friday.

The Sycamores (1-1) were aggressive at the net, hitting .367 for the match, and impenetrable in the backcourt, limiting the Bulldogs (1-1) to a .147 clip for the match and tallying 9.0 total blocks up front at the net. In fact, ISU forced Samford into a negative hitting percentage at -.056 in its superb third-set win of 25-13.

Samford only held one lead the entire match after taking the first point of the third set, while the Sycamores set margins of victory of seven (Set One, 25-18), six (Set Two, 25-19) and 12 (Set Three, 25-13) en route to the quick victory.

Leading the way were Bree Spangler (13 kills, .522, 5 digs, 2 aces, 1.0 blocks), Melody Burdette (11 kills, .364, 3 digs, 3.0 blocks) and Kynedi Nalls (10 kills, .409, 3.0 blocks), who were each in double-digit kills and combined for 34 of ISU's 43 total kills in the match.

Junior Rachel Griffin narrowly missed a double-double with 32 assists and nine digs to go along with 2.0 blocks and an ace, and freshman Damadj Johnson had 5 kills to go along with her 5.0 blocks – many of which were alongside fellow freshman Cassie Kawa (4.0 blocks).

The Sycamores close out at the Marriott Invitational tomorrow afternoon with a 2 p.m. ET tilt against Nicholls State.

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