GREENSBORO, N.C. – The UNCG volleyball recorded its seventh-straight victory Saturday downing Southern Conference preseason favorite Samford 3-0 (27-25, 25-17, 25-18) inside Fleming Gymnasium.

The Spartans (17-8, 7-3 SoCon) improved to 9-0 at home this season and remained a perfect 17-0 when winning the opening set (32-1 overall under head coach Corey Carlin). Meanwhile, the Bulldogs (8-11, 3-6 SoCon) suffered their fourth-straight loss. UNCG also flipped the script so to speak having been swept by Samford earlier this season down in Birmingham.

Western Carolina did the Spartans a favor earlier in the day by knocking off ETSU in Johnson City. As a result, UNCG is alone in third place in the league standings with six matches to play before the conference tournament as well as just a game behind Furman - who the Blue and Gold swept a couple of weeks ago - for the top spot.

A trio of Spartans recorded nine kills in the match in junior outside hitter Jessica Brezwyn, sophomore outside hitter Ashley Muench and freshman middle hitter Jasmine Jones. Jones added six blocks (all assists) while Muench tallied 11 digs. Brezwyn made just one error to fire at a .364 clip. Senior libero Katherine Santiago collected a match-high 15 digs to go along with four assists.

UNCG played a clean offensive match hitting over .200 in every set and committing just nine unforced errors. The Spartans hit a collective .239 while limiting Samford to just .131 efficiency. Defensively, the Blue and Gold outblocked the Bulldogs 8.0 to 5.0 and held a slight 50-48 edge in digs.

Following a Samford attacking error that put UNCG in front 8-5 in the opening set, the Bulldogs called for their first timeout. Samford would eventually rally to knot the score at 13 before taking a 15-13 lead after back to back blocks. The Bulldogs looked to be in control late leading 22-19 but two kills by Muench and a kill from Jones tied things at 22.

Kate Neisler gave the visitors a 23-22 lead with a kill but two attacking errors put UNCG at set point leading 24-23. Gabbi Greenwald came through for Samford with two-straight kills to give her team set point, however, Muench and senior middle hitter Julia Westerbur combined to put down three-straight kills as the Spartans captured the all-important first stanza.

UNCG jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the second frame prompting a Bulldog timeout. Samford drew within 11-9 but the Spartans scored three straight to assume a five-point edge. The Blue and Gold began to play great defense at that point and was able to stretch the advantage to an insurmountable 20-12. A kill by Muench would give UNCG the comfortable eight-point win and a two-set advantage heading into the intermission.

The Bulldogs came out of the locker room with a lot of emotion and raced out to a 6-1 lead. The Spartans kept disciplined though and ripped off a 6-1 run of their own to tie the score at seven. The teams played to a tie at 10 points apiece but a service error by Samford would afford UNCG a lead it would not relinquish. The Bulldogs stayed as close as 14-13 but the Blue and Gold scored five of the next six points to take the air out of the Samford attack. A service ace by freshman setter Allison Penner would give the Spartans match point before a Jones kill put it away just two rallies later.

UNCG returns to the court Wednesday when it travels to Mercer for a SoCon matchup. The Spartans and Bears will serve it up inside Hawkins Arena at 5 p.m.