BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Inspired by their "Dig Orange" match in memory of their former teammate Caroline Neisler, the Samford University volleyball team downed Chattanooga 3-1, (25-21, 25-23, 27-29, 25-22) inside the Pete Hanna Center on Wednesday, Nov. 4.

"Every match we have been showing growth in small areas but tonight it was a lot about our identity and our commitment to identity." stated Head Coach Derek Schroeder.

Redshirt freshman Kate Neisler, sister to Caroline, played motivated and led the team with 18 kills (.419) and tallied 13 digs for her fourth double-double of the season.

"In a match that's dedicated to her sister (Caroline Neisler) I thought that Kate came out and played lights out for us tonight." Schroeder said. "She showed a lot of heart and stepped up in every facet of the game."

Neisler was given copious amounts of support from her teammates throughout the match as freshman setter Taylor Anderton notched her fifth double-double of the season with 48 assists and a team high 18 digs while junior outside Erin Bognar picked up her fourth double-double with 16 kills and 14 digs.

The Bulldogs (10-11, 5-6 SoCon) jumped out early on the Mocs (20-5, 9-3 SoCon) by taking the first two sets of the match 25-21 and 25-23. The two hard fought sets included 10 ties and 6 lead changes to which Samford prevailed both times.

Chattanooga came out of the intermission and took advantage of a complacent Samford offense that struggled early on as UTC took a 12-7 lead to which it wouldn't give up until Samford tied the set 24-24. The two teams battled back and forth Chattanooga reeled off a pair of points on a Kristy Wieser kill and a Rachel Petkosh service aced to bring the match 2-1.

With momentum on the Mocs side to raced out to a 10-4 lead on the Bulldogs but Samford immediately rallied to close down the Chattanooga lead to 13-12. The Mocs opened back up another lead 22-18 late in the set but T.J. Russell held serve while Kiahna Wicks stepped up to record a kill along with a pair of blocks which was capped off by Neisler's match point kill to end the comeback 25-22.

Wicks capped off the night with 11 kills (.400) while Russell tallied nine kills (.533) to round out the offensive output from the Samford middles.

Defensively five Bulldogs tallied double-digit dig performances while the team ended with a total of 77 on the night. Anderton (18), Bognar (14) and Neisler (13) tallied impressive performances with their all-around efforts the Bulldogs libero Morgan St. Germain notched 17 digs on the night while defensive specialist Mattie Newson racked up 13 digs.

The Bulldogs continue their homestand with Senior Night which is set for Friday, Nov. 6, at 7 p.m. when the team takes on SoCon leader Furman University.