FULL WEEKEND NOTES (PDF)

SAMFORD PREPS FOR KSU OWLS INVITE
Samford Volleyball (5-3) continues its preseason slate this weekend in Kennesaw, Ga., at the KSU Owls Invite, hosted by Kennesaw State.  The Bulldogs play four matches over two days, beginning with Coastal Carolina (10 a.m. ET) and Stony Brook (2:30 p.m. ET) on Friday, Sept. 13 and concluding with Tennessee Tech (2:30 p.m. ET) and Kennesaw State (7:30 p.m. ET) on Saturday, Sept. 14.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Coastal Carolina (2-4) - The Chanticleers recently snapped a three-match losing streak with a 3-0 win over South Carolina State at the end of last weekend's College of Charleston Invitational.  Coastal Carolina made it to last season's Big South Championship game, ultimately falling to Liberty, and the Chanticleers were chosen to finish second in the conference this season behind the Flames.  On offense they are led by 2012 First Team All-Conference honoree Kindra Bailey, who has 55 kills and a .447 attack percentage along with a team-leading eight service aces and 17 blocks.  On defense, redshirt junior Lindsay Gill has earned over a third of the team's digs at 111, averaging 4.62 per set.

Stony Brook (3-5) - The Sea Wolves opened the season 3-2 but have since dropped their last three in a row, most recently falling 3-0 at St. John's on Tuesday.  After multiple injuries in 2012 led to a disappointing 10-20 finish, they will be looking to surpass their fourth-place spot in the Northeast Conference preseason poll.  Stony Brook is under new leadership in 2013 as Coley Pawlikowski takes over as head coach following assistant coaching stints at Wisconsin and Northern Illinois.  Their offense is led by senior Kaitlin Costello with 82 kills while redshirt sophomore Lo Hathaway is the team's defensive anchor with 119 of the team's 343 digs.

Tennessee Tech (3-3) - The Golden Eagles have already matched their win total from last season as they struggled en route to a 3-25 record in 2012.  With renewed energy under first-year head coach Dave Zelenock, Tennessee Tech currently ranks third in the OVC in hitting percentage (.205) and second in service aces (32, 1.60/set).  Sophomore Cody Dodd is a frontrunner in both categories, leading the team with a .321 attack percentage and 15 service aces to go along with 53 kills, only trailing junior Ellen Conti with 54.

Kennesaw State (1-5) - The Owls have struggled in their first two weeks, earning just one win over North Carolina A&T State while falling in their other five contests.  The stats are very close in many of these matches however, with attack errors being the most glaring difference as the Owls have 142 this season with a .164 attack percentage.  Freshman Kelly Marcinek leads the team with 73 kills while sophomore Toure Hopkins leads the team in blocks (14.0) and service aces (5).

ALL-TIME VERSUS WEEKEND OPPONENTS
Samford has a 9-10 all-time record against this weekend's teams, with 15 of those coming against Tennessee Tech, as the two teams were conference opponents in the OVC from 2003-07.  The Golden Eagles hold a 10-5 edge over the Bulldogs, though Samford has won both matches since jumping to the SoCon.

Samford holds 2-0 all-time records against both Coastal Carolina and Kennesaw State.  The last time Samford met either team was during the 2007 season.  This will be the first ever meeting between Samford and Stony Brook.

BULLDOGS ADD TWO WINS IN NASHVILLE
Last weekend at the Lipscomb Invitational, the Bulldogs earned wins over in-state opponents Jacksonville State and South Alabama but could not go undefeated, falling to Lipscomb in a Friday night match on ESPN3.

Samford Volleyball opened action at the Lipscomb Invitational Friday morning against South Alabama, as the Bulldogs swept their in-state foe in a tightly contested match at Allen Arena.
 
The Samford offense was balanced and efficient, hitting .284 as a team with Michaela Reesor (15), Erin Bognar (12) and Katie Murphy (10) all in double-figures in kills.  Samford limited South Alabama to a .167 hitting percentage while the Bulldogs held the slight edge in digs, 45-39, led by Chelsi Carter with a season-high 18.

The Bulldogs looked to pull an upset over the home Lipscomb Lady Bisons in Friday night's marquee match at the Lipscomb Invitational on ESPN3, but the home team came out strongly and swept the Bulldogs, 3-0.
 
Samford struggled against a potent Lipscomb offense, as the Lady Bisons hit a staggering .475 as a team, the second-highest attack percentage allowed by the Bulldogs so far this season.  Samford struggled at the service line, giving away scoring chances with 10 service errors.  Offensively, Samford was led by Michaela Reesor with 10 kills and a .350 attack percentage while Stephanie Palmer paced the offense with 26 assists and Chelsi Carter led the defense with seven digs.

Samford bounced back on Saturday however, closing out its weekend at the Lipscomb Invitational with another sweep over an in-state foe, as the Bulldogs defeated the Jacksonville State Gamecocks in three sets Saturday afternoon.
 
Samford set a fast pace on offense, hitting .296 to Jacksonville State's .133 clip, outscoring them 58-39.5.  Michaela Reesor led all players with 13 kills, nearly scoring a double-double with seven digs as well.  Freshman Gabbi Greenwald, making her first collegiate start, was second on the team with eight kills and a .385 attack percentage.  The defense did their part as well, digging twice as many balls as Jacksonville State, 54-27, led by Chelsi Carter with 18 and Taylor Chao with 10.

For their stellar play over the weekend, Michaela Reesor and Chelsi Carter were both named to the Lipscomb Invitational All-Tournament team.

THE COUNTDOWN TO 1,000
Samford senior Katie Murphy is on the fast track to surpass 1,000 career kills, as she is now only 31 kills shy of the milestone.  So far this season, she is averaging just over eight kills per match with none of those going more than three sets.  She hit a season-high 12 in the win over Georgia State in the opening weekend and has a career-high of 21, set last season against Davidson.

Murphy would be the 10th athlete in Samford history to surpass the 1,000 kill milestone.  It would be the third-consecutive season in which a Samford athlete has done so, with Elizabeth Neisler breaking the mark in 2011 and Lauren Hutchinson following in 2012.

MOVING UP THE RANKS
The Bulldogs have improved their standing among the SoCon statistical leaders, as Samford now leads the conference in hitting percentage (.266), assists (298, 12.42/set) and kills (328, 13.67/set).

Individually, Michaela Reesor is tied for second in the conference with 83 kills (3.46/set), Katie Murphy is third in hitting percentage (.388), Stephanie Palmer is third in assists (237, 10.30/set) and Chelsi Carter is seventh in digs (98, 4.08/set).

UP NEXT
Next weekend, Samford concludes the pre-conference portion of the schedule with three matches at the Mizzou Classic, hosted by Missouri.  Samford will open action against the undefeated Tigers on Friday, Sept. 20 at Noon CT.  On Saturday, Sept. 21, the Bulldogs will face Southeast Missouri (10 a.m.) and Towson (4 p.m.).