FULL MATCH NOTES (PDF)

VOLLEYBALL WRAPS UP REGULAR SEASON
Samford closes the regular season on the road, facing Western Carolina and Appalachian State.  The Bulldogs will match up against the Catamounts on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 6 p.m. ET  before heading to Boone to battle the Mountaineers on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 2 p.m. ET.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Western Carolina (8-21, 4-10 SoCon) - Since the Bulldogs faced the Catamounts in the opening conference weekend, Western Carolina has gone 4-9 and are currently on a five-match losing skid.  During that stretch, however, they have played some of the top teams very hard, going four sets against the College of Charleston and going five against Georgia Southern.  2011 All-Freshman selection Caitlin Piechota leads the attack with 299 kills with fellow sophomore Jordan Timmerman right behind her with 290.  Freshman Tina Nazario is the primary setter with 931 assists while junior libero Morgan Cochran leads the defense with 563 digs.

Appalachian State (7-21, 3-11 SoCon) - With the loss of some key seniors from last year's SoCon semifinal squad, the Mountaineers have struggled in SoCon play this season with a 3-11 record.  Two of those three wins have come in their last five matches, a 3-0 victory over the Citadel on Oct. 20 and a 3-0 sweep over Western Carolina on Nov. 1.  Sophomore middle Dalton Tolliver leads the team with 282 kills while the team's lone senior, Courtney Rhein, anchors the defense with 522 digs.

HISTORY LESSON
Samford is 12-4 all-time against Western Carolina but is a perfect 9-0 against the Catamounts since joining the SoCon in 2008.  In SoCon play, Samford has defeated Western Carolina by a combined score of 27-3, sweeping them in six of those nine contests.

Samford has faced Appalachian State nine times since joining the SoCon and the Mountaineers hold the slight 5-4 advantage in the all-time standings.  Samford went 3-1 in their first four meetings, dropped the next four, but rebounded earlier this season with a 3-0 Samford victory in Birmingham.  In 2011, Samford's loss to Appalachian State on senior day was the Bulldogs' only home loss all season.


SAMFORD IN THE SOCON RANKS
Team Stats
Hitting Percentage - 2nd - .250
Opponent Hitting Percentage - 2nd - .169
Kills - 2nd - 1458 (14.16/set)
Assists - 5th - 1359 (13.19/set)
Aces - 5th - 119 (1.16/set)

Individual Stats
Hitting Percentage
Katie Murphy - 2nd - .359
Lauren Hutchinson - 3rd - .347
Kills
Michaela Reesor - 4th - 386 (3.75/set)
Assists
Casey Garvey - 2nd - 1163 (11.63/set)
Aces
Chelsi Carter - 5th - 31 (0.30/set)
Alexis Bauer - 10th - 28 (0.27/set)
Digs
Alexis Bauer - 6th - 528 (5.13/set)



KEY WEEKEND GIVES GARVEY SOCON WEEKLY HONORS
Senior setter Casey Garvey helped Samford clinch a second-straight North Division title this past weekend, and her performance earned her SoCon Offensive Player of the Week honors, announced by the conference office Monday.
 
Last Friday against Elon, Garvey tied a career high with seven kills as the Bulldogs defeated the Phoenix, 3-1, to clinch the SoCon North Division for the second-straight season.  The following night on Senior Night versus UNCG, she earned her eighth double-double of the season with 58 assists and 16 digs in a 3-1 victory over the Spartans.  In total for the weekend, she earned 12 kills, 25 digs and 106 assists.
 
The Louisville, Ky., native has 1,163 assists so far this season, only 37 shy of cracking the Samford single-season top ten list for the second consecutive season.  In 2011, she set the Samford single-season record with 1,431 assists.  She is currently fourth all-time on Samford's career assists list with 3,552 and is only 13 service aces shy of finishing 10th all-time at Samford.
 
This is the second-consecutive week a Bulldog has won Offensive Player of the Week accolades after Michaela Reesor won last week thanks to her record-setting performance at Wofford.  It is Samford's fourth Offensive Player of the Week honor this season, their fifth honor overall.  Alexis Bauer won the Bulldogs' only defensive honor on September 10, while Lauren Hutchinson won back-to-back offensive awards on September 17 and 24.

DOGS SECURE TOP SEED WITH FINAL HOME MATCHES
Samford competed in its final home matches of the season last weekend, posting 3-1 wins over Elon and UNCG to secure a second-consecutive SoCon North Division title and a No. 1 seed in the upcoming tournament.  It is Samford's fourth first-place finish in the five years since joining the conference.  Friday's match versus Elon was the team's annual Dig Pink match, where the team helped raise money for the Side Out Foundation and their fight against Breast Cancer.  After splitting the first two sets, the Bulldog offense made some key runs in the third and fourth sets to secure the 3-1 victory over the Phoenix.  It was a similar story on Saturday night against UNCG, which was Senior Night for six special Bulldogs.  Samford got off to a 2-0 start but the Spartans staved off the sweep with a win in set three before the Bulldogs came surging back in the fourth frame to claim the victory.

UP NEXT
Samford will head to Davidson, N.C., for the 2012 SoCon Tournament.  The tournament begins on Saturday, Nov. 17 with four quarterfinal matches and proceeds with two semifinal matches on Sunday, Nov. 18 and the championship match on Monday, Nov. 19.  

The Bulldogs will play as the No. 1 North Division seed for the second-consecutive season.  Samford will be matched up against the No. 4 seed in the South Division and will play at 4:30 p.m. ET that Saturday.  If Davidson ends up as the No. 4 South Seed, they may elect to play in the 7 p.m. ET time slot that night instead since they are the host team.