Aug. 14, 2002

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford Volleyball Team began practice this morning and soon learned that the Atlantic Sun Conference head coaches picked them to finish fifth in their final season of A-Sun play.

The Bulldogs, led by first year coach Kris Dorn are coming off a 2001 campaign which saw them finish with a 12-22 overall record but Samford finished 6-4 in the conference earning a trip to the Atlantic Sun Tournament with the No. 6 seed. The Bulldogs recorded wins against Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and A-Sun regular season champion Georgia State. Samford also proved to be the top team in Birmingham by defeating both UAB and Birmingham-Southern.

A trio of juniors lead the 2002 Bulldogs, Angela Smith, Stefanie Pickett, and Krista Kettering have been starters since they were freshmen. Smith and Pickett are the top returning attackers while Kettering dished out 1,240 assists a year ago.

Junior college transfers Alyssa Whitehead and Fallon Levine join freshmen Shannon Smith and Courtney Keen as newcomers in 2002. Whitehead was a NAIA All-American at Northwest Shoals last season.

Colleen Donivan is the only senior on the squad and a quartet of sophomores, Brooke and Kristin Berryman, Hilary Gary, and Eileen Hatfield, round out the 12 player roster.

Dorn feels that being picked fifth in the conference gives the Bulldogs something to work for this season. "You can't put much into preseason rankings, but it does show that the coaches in the league think that we have improved from last season. Last year once we knew we made the conference tournament our play fell off a little. This season we need to focus on being mentally stronger, we played well against the top four teams last season. This year we need to play well against everyone regardless of there ranking. If we do that, I think we can be the team no ones wants to face in the tournament."

Only the top six teams qualify for the Atlantic Sun tournament. Last season's tournament Champion, UCF, was picked to repeat as the A-Sun automatic qualifier to the NCAA Tournament. 2001 regular season champion Georgia State was picked second. Florida Atlantic and Jacksonville were picked third and fourth ahead of the Bulldogs. Last season, UCF had to come from behind to defeat Samford in four games. The Bulldogs were the only team to defeat Georgia State in the conference season and FAU and JU each needed five games to defeat Samford.

A-Sun coaches picked Troy State to finish sixth, with Campbell and Jacksonville State picked seventh and eighth. Belmont and Mercer tied for ninth with Stetson and Conference newcomer Gardner-Webb rounding out the 12-team conference.

This will be the final year that Samford competes in the Atlantic Sun. The Bulldogs will move to the Ohio Valley Conference in 2003.