BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University volleyball team completed a two-game sweep of Tennessee Tech and Northwestern State on the first day of the Samford-UAB Challenge Invitational on Friday, Sept. 2, inside the Pete Hanna Center.

The Bulldogs (4-2) picked up the pair of wins behind the exceptional offensive performances the trio of attackers in Erin Bognar, Kate Neisler and Gabbi Greenwald. All three recorded 20 plus kills through the two matches.

Neisler paced the group with 29 kills (.186) while Bognar tallied 28 kills (.282) and Greenwald rounded out the effort with 20 kills (.275) on the day.

Bognar not only helped spearhead the Bulldogs offensive efforts she, along with Neisler, led Samford with 32 digs compared to Neisler' 25. Freshman libero Grace Tiesman contributed 22 digs through the seven sets.

Samford opened up the day with a gutsy 3-1 (20-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-20) win over Tennessee Tech (3-2). The team had to rally after a tough start to the match where they dropped the first set 25-20 to the Golden Eagles.

The Bulldogs only sided out at 47% but managed to string together numbers of 66%, 63% and 60% to close out the match.

In the nightcap, Samford carried the momentum over to a 3-0 (25-22, 25-14, 25-21) victory over the Lady Demons from Northwestern State.

The Bulldogs defense, led by Bognar and Neisler, racked up 54 digs on the evening while senior middle blocker Kiahna Wicks was error free with six kills on 10 attempts.

Samford returns to action on Saturday, Sept. 3, at 7 p.m. when the team takes on Radford University here inside the Pete Hanna Center to close out the Samford-UAB Challenge.