BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University volleyball team improved to 2-2 in Southern Conference play with a 3-1 victory over Mercer University on Friday night at home inside the Pete Hanna Center.

The Bulldogs (11-8, 2-2 SoCon) bounced back after the team dropped a tough road match last weekend with a 26-24, 24-26, 25-21, 25-21 victory over a scrappy Bears (10-7, 2-3 SoCon) squad.

Series Update
In the 40^th meeting between the two squads saw a total 338 attacks combined as the Bulldogs posted 178 while the Bears tallied 160 attempts. With the win Samford improved its' all-time record to 34-7 over Mercer. It was the third-straight SoCon win at home over the team from Macon, Georgia.

By The Set

Set 1 | W, Samford (26-24)  Samford four itself in a dogfight in the very first set of the match as the Bulldogs and the Bears battled back-and-forth between 16 ties and six lead changes. Down 22-20, the Bulldogs called timeout in an attempt to rally the troops and did so but not before the Bears took a 23-20 lead on a service ace from Morgan Macgilvary.
A kill from redshirt-junior T.J. Russell initiated a 6-1 rally which was capped off by back-to-back kills from Kate Neisler to win 26-24.

Set 2 | W, Mercer (26-24) The Bears bounced back in dramatic fashion in the following set to even the match 1-1 going into the intermission. The Bulldogs held a 22-14 lead over Mercer but the Bears rallied to tie the set 23-23 and went on to score a trio of points compared to a solo point achieved from a Mercer serving error.

Set 3 | W, Samford (25-21)   Samford made adjustments out of the intermission to take a 2-1 lead in the match. After a fast start by the Bulldogs which resulted in a 16-10 lead, the Bears once again made a late push to challenge the home squad. With the score tied 21-21, Samford picked up three-straight points thanks to a trio of Mercer errors which allowed senior Gabbi Greenwald to cap off the set 25-21.

Set 4 | W, Samford (25-21) The Bulldogs wrapped up the match with another 25-21 set victory and picked up a pair of solid efforts from senior Erin Bognar and sophomore Krista Boesing. Bognar tallied seven kills in the set (.237) while Boesing racked up eight total kills (.333) off the bench for the Bulldogs.
 
Key Notes

- Senior Erin Bognar was set 59 times in the match, which is the second most attempts by her in a four-set match and the second most on the team this season.
-  The 19 kills and 16 digs by Bognar was her seventh double-double of the season.

- Mercer libero Tori Penrod amassed an incredible 33 digs on the night to lead all players.

- Krista Boesing came off the bench in the third set to post a total of 10 kills through the two sets played in the match which was third on the team tonight.

- Freshman libero Grace Tiesman posted 25 digs in the match. It was her fifth 20-plus dig performance of the season and third overall in a four-set match.

Next Up

Samford will host The Citadel to wrap up this weekend's home slate of SoCon action. The two teams are scheduled to play on Saturday, Sept. 8, at 3 p.m.