FULL MATCH NOTES (PDF)

SAMFORD PREPS FOR MIDWEEK MATCH WITH THE MOCS
On Wednesday, Oct. 9, Samford (11-8, 2-2 SoCon) will take a quick road trip north to Tennessee to face the Chattanooga Mocs at 7 p.m. ET.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Chattanooga (2-17, 1-3 SoCon) - The Mocs have struggled mightily this season, earning just two wins in 19 matches so far.  Chattanooga earned its first win of the season in its 13th match, defeating Southern Mississippi in five sets, with their second win coming at Wofford in their opening conference weekend.  Last weekend, Samford and Chattanooga shared common opponents with the Mocs falling to Appalachian State, 3-1, on Friday before being swept by Western Carolina on Sunday.  One bright spot for the offense has been freshman Allie Davenport, who leads the SoCon with 33 service aces and leads the team with 174 kills.  Defensive duties are spread pretty evenly, with Melissa Green (237 digs) out in front while Catherine Chason (230) and Briana Reid (228) trail close behind.

ALL-TIME VERSUS CHATTANOOGA
Samford is 21-9 all-time against the Mocs with a 9-1 record as Southern Conference foes.  Samford's lone SoCon loss to Chattanooga came in the second meeting of the 2010 season, as the Mocs defeated the Bulldogs 3-1 in Birmingham.  Over Samford's nine SoCon wins, Chattanooga has won only two sets.  The Mocs have not defeated the Bulldogs in Chattanooga since the final regular season match of the 1999 season, a 3-0 Chattanooga victory.

SOUTHERN RAIL RIVALRY
Wednesday's match kicks off the third-annual Southern Rail Rivalry between the two schools, an all-sport competition between the SoCon's two westernmost institutions.

The winner is determined by a point system based on head-to-head matchups throughout the year. Four points are awarded for the winner of football, men's basketball and women's basketball, while two points go to the winner of all other sports. In the sports with no head-to-head matchups, two points are awarded to the team that finishes higher at the SoCon Championships.

Chattanooga has won the competition each of the first two seasons.  Samford volleyball is 4-0 against Chattanooga during that stretch.

CARTER DIGGING TOWARDS RECORD SEASON
Junior libero Chelsi Carter has enjoyed a stellar string of matches with the start of conference play.  She has improved her career-best mark for digs three times over the last four matches, starting with 24 at Wofford on Sept. 27.  Prior to that match, her previous single-match high was 20 against Arkansas State during the 2011 season.  In the five-set loss to Western Carolina, Carter further improved her personal best with 27 digs before earning 28 the following night in the five-set win over Appalachian State.

So far this season, Carter has 282 digs, only six shy of her season total from the entire 2012 season.  She is on pace for 460 digs by the end of the regular season, which would rank fourth all-time on Samford's single season top ten.  After this weekend, Carter also moved to 10th all-time with 910 career digs.

LAST TIME OUT: DOGS SPLIT PAIR OF FIVE-SET MATCHES
After 13-straight matches away from home, the Bulldogs finally returned to the Pete Hanna Center last weekend for a pair of SoCon matchups.  Samford's homecoming was spoiled by a fiesty Western Carolina squad on Friday night but the Bulldogs came back with a thrilling finish against Appalachian State Saturday night.

Statistically speaking, Samford held the edge over Western Carolina Friday night in kills (73-63), assists (69-58) and digs (74-67), but the Catamounts found a way to make the most of their opportunities.  The win was Western Carolina's first ever over Samford as members of the Southern Conference.
 
With the match stretching to five sets, multiple Bulldogs earned season-high marks including Michaela Reesor, who led all players with 25 kills.  Katie Murphy was close behind with a season-high 20 kills while Gabbi Greenwald was the third Bulldog in double-figures, tallying a personal-best 13 kills.  Chelsi Carter one-upped her own personal best 24 digs from last weekend with 27 tonight, while Stephanie Palmer earned a season-high 56 assists.

After giving up a 2-0 match lead and falling behind in the fifth set to Appalachian State Saturday night, Samford fought back from a five-point deficit to pull out a gutsy win in front of an electric Pete Hanna Center crowd.
Samford was bested in nearly every statistical column by Appalachian State, but in a flipped script from Friday night's loss, it was a late 11-4 run in the fifth by the Bulldogs that made all the difference.  Samford's two offensive anchors, Michaela Reesor and Katie Murphy, led the team with 19 and 17 kills, respectively, while Chelsi Carter improved her personal-best mark yet again with 28 digs tonight.
 
In addition to Murphy, Samford's three other seniors played key roles in the clutch win.  Stephanie Palmer paced the offense with 55 assists, Taylor Palmer was a force up front with a career-high two solo blocks and six block assists and Taylor Chao was a scrappy defender with 10 digs off the bench.

UP NEXT
This weekend, Samford continues its SoCon slate with a matchup at Davidson on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 6 p.m. ET.