Oct. 26, 2010
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team will host Chattanooga in its final midweek match of the season Wednesday at the Pete Hanna Center at 6 p.m. The meeting is the third match in a string of five at home before Samford heads back out on the road.
Wednesday night is Greek Night at Samford volleyball. Samford head coach Derek Schroeder will donate $200 to the philanthropy of the campus fraternity or sorority who has the largest attendance at the match.
The meeting also marks the second contest in the first year of the Southern Railroad Rivalry. The Southern Railroad Rivalry is a friendly contest between Samford and Chattanooga that started this year to increase excitement for athletic events between Samford and its closest Southern Conference opponent.
The team that comes out with a win in each sport gets a number of points counted toward the final tally. Four points are awarded to the season winner of football, men's basketball and women's basketball. Two points are awarded to the winner in all other sports (golf, tennis, cross country, women's soccer, softball and volleyball). In a sport with no head-to-head matchup (golf, tennis and cross country), two points will be awarded to the university who finishes higher in the SoCon.
Samford took the early lead in the rivalry after the Bulldogs swept the Lady Mocs in volleyball at Chattanooga earlier this month. Wednesday's matchups between the two teams in soccer and volleyball, as well as the SoCon Cross Country Championship this weekend and the football matchup on Nov. 13, will determine whether the Bulldogs keep their lead through the fall semester.
In the overall series between Chattanooga and Samford, the Bulldogs lead, 16-9. Samford has won eight straight against the Lady Mocs, and the last five wins have been 3-0 sweeps. The Bulldogs have not dropped a set to the Lady Mocs since the first set they played (21-30) in 2007.
The last weekend was a topsy-turvy one in the conference. Several teams saw extra play in at least one of their matches and now teams who thought they were out of the hunt for a top finish are still in the running. UNC Greensboro, Appalachian State and Elon are all tied for first place in the North Divison with 6-4 records. Samford falls right behind with a 5-5 record. College of Charleston and Georgia Southern are tied for first in the South Division with 9-1 records followed by Furman with a 7-3 record.
"Every team in our division has opportunity because of the log jam of records," Schroeder said. "A scrappy defensive team like Chattanooga is scary with opportunity."
The Bulldogs enter Wednesday's contest riding a three-match win streak. The Bulldogs went 2-0 last weekend with a 3-2 upset over Furman on Saturday and a 3-0 sweep of Wofford on Sunday. After falling in the first set to the Paladins, 30-28, Samford came back to win the second set (25-20) and the fourth set (25-19) before taking the match win with a 15-12 win in the tiebreaker. On Sunday, Samford saw extra play in the first set but won it this time, 29-27, before dominating the second set, 25-8, and winning the last set, 25-22.
"Our recent play has a little to do with being at home and a lot to do with staying the course," Schroeder said. "We have had some tough losses to some very motivated teams. It has not broken us and we have stayed the course as a team. This weekend we came away with team wins. All 14 players were on board with preparation, game plan and execution."
The Bulldogs are still led by Elizabeth Neisler and Lauren Hutchinson in hitting. Neisler boasts 272 kills to average 3.16 kills per set. Hutchinson averages 2.76 kills per set but leads the Bulldogs with a .341 hitting percentage. This weekend alone, she averaged .447, hitting .414 against Furman and .500 against Wofford. Katie Murphy continues to be a threatening presence at the net, averaging 0.90 blocks per set. She has tallied 20 solo blocks and 57 block assists so far this season and had five solo blocks and five block assists over the weekend.
Hillary Fountain still leads the offense with 6.77 assists per set followed by Casey Garvey with 4.41 per set. Garvey started at setter this weekend and averaged 11.50 assists per set. Alexis Bauer ran the back row this weekend, posting 25 digs in Saturday's match against Furman. She averages 3.52 assists per set for the year followed by Samantha Bland with 2.04 per set.
Chattanooga comes off a weekend in which it swept Wofford on Saturday and fell in a heartbreaker to Furman on Sunday. Much like Samford did, the Lady Mocs took the defending regular-season South Division Champion to the wire. However, UTC couldn't pull off the upset and fell in the final set, 17-15.
Courtney Barnes and Jennifer Kuroski lead the Lady Mocs with 2.41 kills per set. Barnes leads the team in total kills with 229 on the year and is also second on the team in blocks with 0.79 per set. She boasts 19 solo blocks, which is the most of any Lady Moc. Bailee Chastain has dished out 585 assists on the year while Tess Kosycarz has tallied 325. Paula Passmore leads in digs with 5.46 per set.
The Samford volleyball team has had some great support during this season and Wednesday night is just as important as any other home match, says Schroeder.
"A raucous crowd on Wednesday would help us with our demeanor. We are definitely better when we are playing truculent volleyball and some support from Bulldog Country would give us that aggressive edge!"
Wednesday's match starts at 6 p.m. in the Pete Hanna Center and will be streamed live on Samford All-Access. A full recap and box score will be available on www.samfordsports.com upon the completion of the match.
