Birmingham, Ala. – The Samford University volleyball team takes to the road for the final time of the 2015 regular season as the team travels Cullowhee, N.C. to take on Western Carolina on Friday, Nov. 13, at 5 p.m. CST then will trek to Johnson City, Tennessee to take on ETSU on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 1 p.m. CST.

The Bulldogs (13-11, 8-6 SoCon) are currently riding a five-game win streak that the team built up during a stretch of home matches inside the Pete Hanna Center during the previous week. The trend so far this season has been that SoCon teams have performed extremely well on their home courts and such will be the case heading into this weekend as Samford looks to earn their first SoCon road victory; SoCon teams are 44-19 in conference play at home.

Samford will get a taste of the atmosphere that the Southern Conference Championship Tournament will provide when they take on the Catamounts (11-19, 5-9 SoCon) inside the Ramsey Center on Friday night. Western Carolina is 3-3 at home in SoCon play and holds a 5-6 overall record this season at home and will serve as the host to this season SoCon Championships.

The Catamounts are led by Jo-Leigh Vervelde who notched her NCAA-leading ninth triple-double in a five-set defeat of Mercer on Saturday, posting 11 kills, 15 digs, 24 assists. The Catamounts have won three of their last four matches.  

The Bulldogs and the Catamounts have squared off once already this season as Samford took down Western Carolina 3-0 inside the Pete Hanna Center on Saturday, Oct. 10.
Outstanding offense and exception defense has been the key to Samford's success during its five-game win streak and each category is led mainly through a pair of individuals in junior outside hitter Erin Bognar and sophomore libero Morgan St. Germain. During that span Bognar racked up 57 kills (3.56 k/s) and 41 digs (2.56 d/s) while St. Germain led the way with 82 digs (4.82 d/s).

Bognar's offense was mainly supplemented through the above and beyond effort from redshirt freshman Kate Neisler whose stats are nearly identical to Bognar's. Neisler tallied 54 kills (3.18 k/s) and 44 digs (2.59 d/s) over the same span.

Redshirt sophomore T.J. Russell has really stepped up her game at the net for the Bulldogs during that time as she is averaging 1.35 blocks per set which includes eight solo blocks and 15 block assists.

Samford will wrap up the regular season with ETSU (18-9, 9-5 SoCon). The Buccaneers handed the Bulldogs their long SoCon home loss this season when they came in and swept Samford 3-0 inside the Pete Hanna Center on Friday, Oct. 9.
The team from Johnson City is currently riding a three-match win streak where they took three road victories over Mercer, Wofford and UNCG.

The Buccaneers headlined the SoCon Player of the Week awards as they swept both offensive and defensive titles. Khadiiah Wiley tallied 25 kills and a .404 hitting percentage in two ETSU wins and put down 14 kills in the Bucs' 3-1 win over Wofford on Wednesday. She followed up with 11 kills and a .435 hitting percentage in ETSU's sweep at UNCG.

Hailey Aguilar won SoCon Defensive Player of the Week after she had 45 digs in two ETSU wins for an average of 6.43 digs per set. She recorded a career-high 29 digs in the Bucs' 3-1 win over Wofford and 16 digs in a sweep of UNCG. She ranks 7^th in the SoCon with an average of 4.01 digs per set.

Fans can follow along with the action through Twitter by following @SamfordVB or click the live stats links located on SamfordSports.com. Friday's match can also be viewed live via the SoCon Digital Network.