Oct. 17, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team hits the pavement again this weekend to take on College of Charleston and The Citadel Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 18-19. The road trip is one of three left for the Bulldogs before the season comes to an end.
Samford (18-2, 7-0 SoCon) extended its school-record win streak to 12 last week with three sweeps of Chattanooga, Furman and Wofford. The Bulldogs have now won 12 of their 18 victories in three set sweeps.
Up until last Sunday, Samford and College of Charleston stood alone as the only undefeated teams left standing the Southern Conference. On Sunday, College of Charleston fell in an intense five-set battle to UNC Greensboro. Both teams were preseason picks to finish at the top of the conference - College of Charleston in the South division, UNC Greensboro in the North. Samford looks to continue successfully on its journey to making its way to the top, but it must get past Charleston first.
"The College of Charleston/UNC Greensboro match confirms the preseason rankings as voted by the coaches," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "Both were voted the top two teams in the league preseason and played the best match of the year in the Southern Conference. We are still set on the idea of playing our way into the hierarchy of the conference as near to the top as we can. Charleston is the next step."
Samford leads the league in hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, assists, kills and aces. The Bulldogs are also ranked nationally in several categories - fifth in hitting percentage (.306), ninth in assists per set (13.26), 12th in aces per set (1.82) and 13th in kills per set (14.19). Schroeder's squad has definitely made its impact on the conference, and surely has a target on its back.
"One of our opponents this weekend pointed out, "Welcome to the top. Now you are going to get everyone's best game,' and I know that is true," Schroeder said. "This weekend College of Charleston is not going to give us anything and make us earn everything. I am counting on the captains of this team and our maturity to keep us focused and improving every day this week. That, and only that, will allow us the best chance this Saturday and Sunday."
One of those captains is sophomore setter Hillary Fountain, who is currently second in the nation in assists per set (12.09) and 17th in aces per set (0.53). She leads the conference in assists, and has helped led her team to the success they have seen so far in 2008.
"I think our hitting percentage says a lot about Hillary and where she has taken her game this year," Schroeder said. "In February, she was a good athlete that worked hard and set her hitters. Now, she is a good athlete that works very hard and understands her offense to optimize all her hitters."
The Bulldogs sport the best team hitting percentage in recent years and have held their opponents so far this season to a collective .143 average. Samford has also scored on almost 300 more kills than its foes this season. The offense is led by several Bulldogs - seniors Ashley Adams and Kirstein Sosnowski, junior Sheriden Stangohr and red-shirt freshman Rachel Gadberry. The foursome, respectively, holds four of the top five spots in hitting percentage in the conference standings, just behind College of Charleston's Elyse Chubb. Adams and Sosnowski who are 32nd and 33rd, respectively in hitting percentage in the nation's standings, contribute to the Bulldogs' national ranking the same category.
"Never did I imagine our offense would be this efficient," Schroeder said. "The Southern Conference is known for defensive wins and our offensive system and hitters in that system give us a slight advantage right now. The idea that defense wins championships is not lost on me. We have worked very hard to match our opponents' defensive intensity and output, hoping then that our serve-receive system and transition will put us over the top in any match."
Samford has also been improving on the defensive side of the ball. The Bulldogs have out-blocked their opponents by 47. 5 and out-dug their opponents by 102.
"We will be taking the improvements defensively and working to transition at a higher percentage on those digs," Schroeder said. "We will also be looking to improve on a couple of our serve-receive rotations and continue to improve our blocking schemes."
College of Charleston (13-6, 6-1 SoCon) bounced back from is tough loss to UNC Greensboro on Sunday with a 3-0 sweep of Elon on Monday night. The Cougars are led by two sophomores and two freshmen. Sophomore right side Ginny Phillips is currently ranked 20th in the country in service aces per set (0.52) while sophomore setter Cole Dawley is number two in the Southern Conference in assists per set with 10.44. Freshman libero Emily Shelton ranks 40th in the nation is digs per set (4.57) while freshman middle blocker Elyse Chubb is 43rd in the country and first in the league in hitting percentage (.363).
The Citadel (6-13, 0-7 SoCon) is looking to snap the seven match dry spell it has been on. The Bulldogs were swept by UNC Greensboro and Elon last week. The Citadel is led by two sophomores, middle blocker Jessica Maas and outside hitter Tatum Jestila. Maas is averaging 2.47 kills per set while Jestila is leading the Bulldogs in digs with 3.61 per set.
Each match starts at 1 p.m. CT. Follow all the action through live stats at www.CofCSports.com and www.CitadelSports.com or via live video streaming on www.soconsports.com. A full recap and results will be available on www.samfordsports.com upon the completion of each match.
