Sept. 7, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team continues its 11-match road swing Tuesday evening when the Bulldogs head south to take on in-state rival Troy University. Match play begins at 7 p.m., at Trojan Arena.
Troy leads the series with the Bulldogs, 34-13, but Samford has won two out of the last three meeting between the two teams. The Bulldogs defeated the Trojans in 2007 and 2008 in the Samford Invitational. The last time the Trojans won the meeting was in 2005 at the Trojan Spiketacular.
Samford and Troy were formerly conference foes in the Atlantic Sun Conference before Samford left the league to join the Ohio Valley Conference. Troy was also Samford's first-ever opponent on Sept. 22, 1987, in the program's inaugural season. The Trojans had the home court advantage and won the meeting, 3-0.
The Bulldogs (3-3) come off a tough weekend at the Belmont Tournament where they fell in all three of their matches. Samford dropped its first match of the season Friday night to Central Arkansas, 3-0, before falling to Southeast Missouri, 3-2, and Belmont, 3-0.
Samford was led again last week by freshman outside hitter Allie Bettinger. The Willow Park, Tex. native averaged three kills per set and 2.55 digs per set. Right behind her was senior Sheriden Stangohr, averaging 2.27 kills per set along with 14 total blocks on the weekend.
Five Bulldogs shared the digging wealth over the weekend with Hillary Fountain and Alexis Bauer leading with 41 and 39, respectively. Casey Garvey, Sarah Gardner and Bettinger added 27, 24 and 28, respectively. Garvey and Fountain also led in assists averaging 4.45 and 5.18 assists per set. Fountain, Garvey and Bettinger also posted double-doubles in the Bulldogs' matches against SEMO and Belmont.
Troy enters Tuesday night's match with a 3-4 record so far on the season. The Trojans played in the Bear Brawl hosted by Mercer last weekend and went 1-2 in the tournament. After being swept by Mercer, the Trojans defeated Bethune-Cookman, 3-0, before falling in five sets to Furman.
The Trojans are led by senior middle hitter Meghan Gilroy who is hitting .445 and averaging 4.76 kills per set. Junior setter Megan Henderson has posted 10.33 assists per set so far this season while also tallying 2.54 digs per set just behind libero Emily Strader, who has 2.64 digs per set.
Fans can follow the action via live stats and radio broadcast through links on the volleyball schedule page at www.troytrojans.com. A full recap and results will be available after the match on . First serve is at 7 p.m.
