Nov. 12, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team will wrap up regular-season play this weekend on the road at Elon and UNC-Greensboro. The Bulldogs will face off with Elon on Thursday evening and, after a day off, will take on UNC-Greensboro on Saturday afternoon.
The Bulldogs come off a weekend in which they clinched the North Division title after securing their 26th win at Appalachian State. Samford has now won eight consecutive matches and is still tied for first in the conference with the College of Charleston. With a 26-3 overall record, the Bulldogs rank fifth in the nation in win-loss percentage (.879), behind Wichita State and Penn State who are tied for first and Nebraska and Florida at third and fourth, respectively. Samford is also ranked 63rd in the latest RPI standings.
The last time the Bulldogs met up with the Phoenix and the Spartans, it was in Birmingham, and Samford won both matches. Samford and Elon went four sets while the UNCG match was stretched to the lengths in five sets. Samford is now set on finishing out the season strong with two wins on the road. Head coach Derek Schroeder hopes to use this weekend as a fine-tuning session as he and his team look toward the conference tournament.
"This week of practice and this weekend will be about fine tuning some of the little things and small details about volleyball before the conference tournament," Schroeder said. "We have been talking a lot this week about details and making the little plays that will decide a game by one or two points. I want to see those things this weekend and a conscious effort to improve on them."
The Bulldogs continue to rank at the top of almost every category in the Southern Conference statistics. The Bulldogs lead in hitting percentage (.293), opponent hitting percentage (.140), assists (12.94), kills (14.01), aces (1.79) and win-loss percentage (.897).
Samford also ranks nationally in several categories including aces per set (13th), assists per set (23rd), hitting percentage (8th), and kills per set (22nd) while several players also rank among the nation's best. Sarah Gardner is 10th (0.54) in aces per set while Hillary Fountain is 16th (0.50) in aces per set and fourth (11.70) in assist per set. Kirstein Sosnowski is 43rd (.358) in hitting percentage, and Ashley Adams is 23rd (4.20) in kills per set.
Elon (18-14, 7-9 SoCon) has won three of its last six matches and comes off a weekend in which it split matches with Wofford and Furman. The Phoenix took the win in a five-set match on the road against the Terriers on Saturday before falling in a sweep to Furman. Elon is led by Caroline Lemke who averages 2.73 kills and 0.77 blocks per set.
UNC-Greensboro (20-9, 12-4 SoCon) will match-up with the Bulldogs on Saturday afternoon after going up against the Chattanooga Mocs the evening before. The Spartans are on a five-match win streak which was extended this past weekend with a 3-2 win over Furman and a sweep of Wofford. Middle blocker Kayren Finney leads the Spartans in hitting (.329) and is second on the team in kills. She is the conference's second-leading blocker and is this week's SoCon Player of the Week. Catherine Hanners is also making noise for Spartans. She is the league's best in service aces and is ranked sixth in the nation in the same category.
Thursday night's meeting between the Phoenix and the Bulldogs will begin at 6 p.m. CT while Saturday's match at UNC Greensboro will start at 2 p.m. CT. Both matches can be seen via live streaming at www.SoCon.TV, and fans can also follow along with live stats at www.elonphoenix.com and www.UNCGSpartans.com. A full recap and results can be found at www.samfordsports.com.
