Nov. 6, 2008
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team will take to the road this weekend for their first two matches of a four-match road tour that will finish out the regular season for the squad. The Bulldogs will meet up with Western Carolina on Saturday and Appalachian State on Sunday to hopefully extend their sixth-match league win streak to eight.
Samford (24-3, 13-1 SoCon) comes off a weekend in which it clinched its first-ever undefeated home record, going 12-0 in the Pete Hanna Center during the 2008 season. The occurrence is fitting since the Bulldogs were the first team to play in the facility last season, ending the 2007 season with two wins in the Thomas E. and Marla H. Corts arena. Samford now holds a 14-match win streak in the Pete Hanna Center.
"I don't know if the first undefeated season in school history has sunk in with the girls or with me," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "This entire group has been so determined and focused all year at the task at hand that we have moved right on to this upcoming weekend and what it means to the program. I am very proud of my girls defending home court all year. I point them in the right direction but they put in the majority of the work and all the sweat."
The Bulldogs led the North division of the Southern Conference with UNC Greensboro and Chattanooga tied at second just three games behind. Samford also leads the conference statistics in six of eight categories (hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, assists per set, kills per set, service aces and match win-loss percentage) as well as ranks seventh in the nation in hitting percentage (.294), 14th in aces per set (1.77), 20th in kills per set (14.00), 21st in assists per set (12.98) and sixth in win-loss percentage (.889).
Still leading the Bulldogs is this week's Southern Conference Player of the Week, senior outside hitter Ashley Adams. Adams earned her third honor of the season this past week as she helped lead the Bulldogs to wins over Georgia Southern and Davidson last weekend. She currently leads the conference in kills per set and is ranked 22nd in the country in the same category.
Sophomore setter Hillary Fountain also leads the league in assists per set. With 11.72 assists per set, she is ranked fourth in the country. She is also ranked 28th in the nation in service aces while her teammate Sarah Gardner ranks 11th in that same category. Junior Sheriden Stangohr and senior Kirstein Sosnowski are ranked 41st and 49th, respectively, in hitting percentage in the nation.
Samford hosted Western Carolina (6-22, 3-11 SoCon) and Appalachian State (6-22, 2-12 SoCon) earlier this season in its first Southern Conference weekend at home. The Bulldogs defeated the Mountaineers in four sets while sweeping the Catamounts the next day. The win over Appalachian State was Samford's first over the Mountaineers while the win over Western Carolina brought the series between the two teams even at four wins a piece.
This weekend's meetings will be a little different than the last as Samford does not hold a home-court advantage over its opponents for the first time in five matches. Samford will enter two of the largest areas of play for the squad this season. Western Carolina's Ramsey Center has a capacity of 7,826 while Appalachian State's Holmes Center holds 8,325.
"Both of those gyms are large coliseums and the emotional investment you put into a match is difficult in such a vast wide open place," Schroeder said. "It will be important for us to create our identity on the floor with our talk and alertness."
Samford has held a lead in the North division since the beginning of conference play and the Bulldogs are aware that there is a target on their back. The team knows that "it's not over until it's over" and are working hard to not become content with their position in the conference standing.
"So far, this week of practice has been the best we have had in a month," Schroeder said. "The girls have been very mature in realizing that our success can lead to complacency and did so earlier in conference play. We have talked about that not happening again in this phase of the season and the girls have responded with some great practice energy."
Western Carolina has won only two its last five matches. The Catamounts defeated The Citadel and East Tennessee State, both in five sets, two weeks ago and since then, have lost three straight matches and are looking to get back on the winning road. Last weekend, WCU fell to Elon in four set before it was swept by UNC Greensboro. Most recently, the Catamounts were defeated Wednesday night by Appalachian State in four sets.
Appalachian State grabbed its first win in five matches last night over Western Carolina. The Mountaineers snapped a four-match losing streak with the 3-1 win on Wednesday night.
First serve with the Catamounts will be on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT. Sunday's match at Appalachian State will begin at 1 p.m. CT as well. Live stats will be offered for both matches and Sunday's match will be available via video streaming. Links to both can be found on the Samford volleyball schedule online. A full recap and results can be found at www.samfordsports.com.
