BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University volleyball team returns home to the Pete Hanna Center to take on Mercer and The Citadel for a pair of SoCon matches on Friday and Saturday. The Bulldogs will take on Mercer, Friday at 7 p.m., then The Citadel on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Samford (10-8, 1-2 SoCon) comes home after a tough 3-1 loss to Western Carolina last weekend in its lone match of the weekend. The pair of opponents to make the trip down hold records of 2-2 (Mercer) and 0-4 (The Citadel) in SoCon action this season.

Last Time Out
The Bulldogs dropped their first SoCon road trip of the 2016 season in a 3-1 (25-21, 25-20, 20-25, 25-14) match to Western Carolina in Cullowhee, N.C.

Kate Neisler and Erin Bognar recorded double-digit kill performances, 12 and 10 respectively, for Samford in the effort while freshman libero Grace Tiesman tallied a career-high 27 digs.

Western Carolina was paced by Aleah Keaton's 15 kills and .609 hitting percentage. Keaton only recorded a single attack error throughout the match.

Follow The Bulldogs
Fans can follow this weekend's set of matches via live stats found in a link below or on the schedule page of SamfordSports.com or through social media on Twitter by following @SamfordVB.

Mercer – Live Stats | Live Video (SoCon Digital Network)
The Citadel – Live Stats | Live Video (SoCon Digital Network)

The Series
Samford enters this weekend with an all-time combined record of 43-7 against Mercer (33-7) and The Citadel (10-0). While the Bulldogs control the all-time series historically, the Bears from Macon, Ga. have two of the last four meetings. Samford hasn't lost to Mercer at home since Oct. 19, 2004 when the Bears defeated the Bulldogs in straight sets 3-0 (32-30, 32-30, 30-16).

Bulldog Bullets

• Senior Erin Bognar ranks second in the SoCon with 264 kills which translates to 4.00 kills per set. In the scope of her career, Bognar ranks eighth all-time in Samford history with 1,146 kills.
• Erika Pifer leads the SoCon with 644 assists and has amassed 2,288 assists over her career at Samford. The number moves Pifer up the all-time chart to sixth in the Samford record book.
• T.J. Russell continues to be an impact at the net as she ranks fourth in the SoCon in blocks with 68 total on the season and averages an even block per set.

 
Scouting the Bears
Mercer comes into Birmingham with a 2-3 record on the road and a 2-2 record in SoCon action which includes wins over UNCG and The Citadel.

The Bears are a major threat at the serving stripe and are led by Emily Krogman who ranks a top the SoCon in aces per set (0.40) while she also ranks second in total aces (25).

Offensively, Morgan MacGilvary ranks in the top-10 of the SoCon standings in hitting percentage (.292), kills per set (3.14), total kills (198) and service aces (19).

Libero Tori Penrod comes in with 307 digs on the season which ranks second in the SoCon and an average of 4.87 digs per set.

Scouting the Bulldogs
The Citadel comes into this weekend with a stout defense that is ranked second overall in the SoCon in total team digs (1,164) and digs per set (15.95).

Leading the Bulldogs in the digs category is libero Samantha Espy who currently sits third in the SoCon standings with 304 digs.

Not far behind Espy is outside hitter Moriah Smith who ranks ninth in the SoCon with 3.27 digs per set. Smith is a dual threat for the Bulldogs as she leads the SoCon with 296 kills at a clip of 4.05 kills per set.

Samford In The NCAA
 

Aces Per Set (329 ranked)	277	7	1.03	Belmont	2.36	Wofford	1.55
Assists Per Set (329 ranked)	147	4	11.87	San Diego	14.45	ETSU	13.07
Blocks Per Set (329 ranked)	212	6	1.86	Stanford	3.39	Western Caro.	2.48
Digs Per Set (329 ranked)	210	9	13.84	UNI	18.61	UNCG	17.39
Hitting Percentage (329 ranked)	130	3	0.216	Florida	0.336	ETSU	0.240
Kills Per Set (329 ranked)	124	2	12.88	San Diego	15.36	ETSU	13.96
Match W-L Pctg. (325 ranked)	150	4	0.556	Dayton	0.941	Mercer	0.625
Opp Hitting Percentage (329 ranked)	203	7	0.209	Penn St.	0.113	Western Caro.	0.176
Team Assists (329 ranked)	52	3	819	Butler	1,037	Wofford	884
Team Attacks Per Set (329 ranked)	164	7	34.57	UCLA	39.46	UNCG	37.33
Team Digs (329 ranked)	114	5	955	USC Upstate	1,407	UNCG	1,165
Team Kills (329 ranked)	49	2	889	Butler	1,105	Wofford	929
Team Service Aces (329 ranked)	203	6	71	Fordham	140	Wofford	113
Team Total Attacks (329 ranked)	68	4	2,385	USC Upstate	3,094	The Citadel	2,646
Team Total Blocks (329 ranked)	142	2	128.0	Jacksonville St.	242.0	Western Caro.	151.0

 
SoCon Standings

	SoCon					Overall
Team	Record	Pct	Home	Away	Streak	Record	Pct	Home	Away	Neutral	Streak
Wofford	3-1	.750	1-1	2-0	W3	10-8	.556	2-2	4-1	4-5	W3
Furman	3-1	.750	3-0	0-1	L1	7-9	.438	4-0	1-5	2-4	L1
Chattanooga	2-1	.667	1-0	1-1	W2	9-7	.563	7-1	1-3	1-3	W2
UNCG	3-2	.600	1-0	2-2	W2	8-9	.471	4-2	2-5	2-2	W2
Mercer	2-2	.500	1-1	1-1	L1	10-6	.625	4-1	2-3	4-2	L1
Western Carolina	2-2	.500	2-1	0-1	L1	7-10	.412	5-2	0-5	2-3	L1
ETSU	1-2	.333	0-0	1-2	L1	9-6	.600	3-1	2-4	4-1	L1
Samford	1-2	.333	1-1	0-1	L2	10-8	.556	6-2	0-4	4-2	L2
The Citadel	0-4	.000	0-3	0-1	L4	6-13	.316	4-6	0-3	2-4	L4