BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -  The Samford University volleyball team hits the road for its' final weekend of non-conference contests as they will travel to Morehead, Kentucky to take part in the Comfort Inn-Vitational which is hosted by Morehead State University.

The Bulldogs (3-4) open the invitational with a pair of matchups on Friday, Sept. 18^th, against Akron (6-4) and Marshall (8-3) at 9:30 a.m. (CST) and 3:30 p.m. (CST) respectively. The team will wrap up play against Morehead State (2-8) on Saturday, Sept. 19^th, at 12:30 p.m. (CST).

Akron started off their season a little sluggish after going 1-3 in the first weekend of competition but since has won five out of its last six matches. The Zips are led in kills by a pair of junior outside hitters in Julia Smagacz (86) and Amanda Bedell (84) but senior middle Kelsey Wilson boasts a .327 attack percentage while also averaging nearly a block per set (.90) and has a total of 35 on the year.

The Thundering Herd has wins over programs such as Boston College and Wake Forest during their impressive preseason stint but are currently riding a two game skid where they have dropped a pair of five-set thrillers to Davidson and West Virginia. Marshall has a trio of players with over 100 kills on the season so far: Taylor Pelton (155), Cassie Weaver (155) and Ally Kiekover (115) account for nearly seventy percent of the Thundering Herd offense.

The Eagles will compete for the first time on their home court this season and will look to end a five-game losing streak when they take on Akron on Friday. So far this season they have relied heavily on Merideth Jewell who has almost twice as many kills as the next closest Eagle on the roster. Jewell is averaging 4.62 k/s with 180 kills to her credit.

Samford will look to rebound after last weekend's performance at the South Alabama Jaguar Invitational and move into Southern Conference play with momentum on its side as they will open up conference play at home on Friday, Sept. 25^th, against Mercer University.

Fans can keep up with the action live via Twitter by following @SamfordVB or viewing the live stats which can be found here on SamfordSports.com.