Richmond, Ky. - The Eastern Kentucky volleyball team dropped a game for the first time since September 18th, but still managed to score a 3-1 victory over Samford on Saturday afternoon.

The Colonels (15-3, 6-0 OVC) pushed their win streak to seven matches by holding the visiting Bulldogs to a .079 hitting percentage. Senior Lesley Aldridge was instrumental in the win, finishing with her fourth "20-20" double-double of the year.

Aldridge led all players with 20 kills and 20 digs, as EKU remained undefeated in conference play. Samford (4-11, 2-4 OVC) struggled offensively, tallying just 31 kills over the course of the four-game match.

Eastern opened the bout with a 30-15 win in game one. The Colonels held a 15-10 advantage at the midway point but blew the game wide open and took a 23-12 lead after a service ace by sophomore Jessica Sabath.

Samford took it up a notch in game two, hitting .263 (their highest single-game mark of the match) en route to a 30-27 win. The two teams traded points for much of the contest, playing to a 21-all tie before the Bulldogs took control by building a 24-21 lead. Eastern pulled within a point at 26-27 and 27-28, but Samford tallied the last two points to secure the victory.

Both teams struggled offensively in the third game, as neither hit over .100 for the contest. Eastern, however, managed to pull out the victory after tallying nine-straight points to take a 22-11 advantage.

The Colonels had little trouble in the final game, jumping out to an 18-10 lead from which Samford never recovered.

Junior Liz Guard chipped in 17 kills (.394 hitting percentage) and three blocks in the win, while freshman Amy Arlinghaus added 10 kills.

Sabath followed Aldridge's effort with 17 digs of her own, while freshman Brittany Nobilio came up with 15 digs.

The Bulldogs tallied 12 team blocks in the losing effort, led by freshmen Robin Bishop and Angela Dempski who tallied six and five, respectively. Samford got a team-high 17 digs from both Eileen Hatfield and Hilary Gary.

Eastern returns to action next weekend when it hosts Murray State (Oct. 15) and Tennessee-Martin (Oct. 16) for a pair of league contests.