Sept. 18, 2007
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford volleyball team will face of with conference rival and defending Ohio Valley Conference champion Jacksonville State Wednesday night at Pete Matthews Coliseum. This will be the first meeting of the season between the two teams, the next being in late October.
The Bulldogs enter Wednesday's match at the top of the Ohio Valley Conference for the first time in Samford history. Samford is currently 2-0 in conference play while already having more wins this season than all of last season. The Bulldogs, who are 7-4 overall, defeated Murray State in four games and UT Martin in five this past weekend in the season opener on the road.
Samford has made its presence known in the conference so far this season. The Bulldogs are second in the conference in holding their opponents to a low hitting percentage and rank third among OVC opponents in blocks per game. The Bulldogs also are fourth in the OVC in the digs category and fifth in service aces.
Junior Libero Courtney Gay has contributed immensely to the Bulldogs' ranking in digs as she leads the conference in digs per game with 6.02 and currently ranks 12th in the nation in the same category. Sophomore middle blocker Sheridan Stangohr ranks fourth in hitting percentage (.332) and third in blocks per game (1.24), while senior middle blocker Angela Dempski, who set new career highs in three categories this weekend, ranks fifth in blocks per game with 1.02.
Jacksonville State comes into the match at second place in the conference. The Gamecocks also defeated Murray State and UT Martin this past weekend, making them one of three 2-0 teams in the conference (Samford and Tennessee State being the other two). Jacksonville State is currently third in the conference in kills and assists per game, while two-time OVC Offensive Player of the Year Abby Breit is fourth in kills and points and senior outside hitter Rebekah Nichols is second in hitting percentage.
"We are coming off a great weekend of play and hope to continue it against Jacksonville State," Samford head coach Michelle Durban said. "JSU is a very good volleyball team and are led by two-time Offensive OVC Player of the Year, Abbey Breit. It will be a tough match on the road, but we are up to the challenge."
Match play starts at 7 p.m. in Pete Matthews Coliseum on the Jacksonville State campus. The match will be shown on local channel 24 and fans can also subscribe to a live video streaming of the match on OVCSports.TV for $5.95. A full recap and results will be available after the match is over on www.samfordsports.com.
