BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University volleyball team officially added two more talented members to its 2017 signing class Wednesday as Head Coach Keylor Chan lauded the addition of Alex Smith and Elise Watford to the Bulldogs' impressive roster for the fall campaign.
 
"We are excited to add Elise and Alex to the Samford volleyball family," said Chan. "Elise is from Birmingham and has deep roots within the community. She is an explosive athlete with collegiate experience who can impact our program immediately. One of our primary goals is to recruit Birmingham's best student-athletes, Elise represents that continued vision.
 
"Alex is a six rotation outside hitter that has the chance to develop into a tremendous Southern Conference player. Through her recruiting process, we recognized her commitment to live her dream of becoming the very best volleyball student-athlete she can be. Together, Elise and Alex will be tremendous additions to our Bulldog family."
 
Alex Smith comes to Samford from Chattanooga, Tennessee, where she starred at Grace Baptist Academy. Smith registered 503 kills, 386 digs, 62 aces and 36 blocks as a senior, when she was named to the Times Free Press Best of Preps first team and was also a Tennessee Sports Writers Association all-state selection in Class A for a second time.
 
Smith has also received numerous all-district and all-region awards — both regular season and tournament — and her 2,188 kills at Grace Baptist Academy are the most in program history. She's also an A student who plans to study biology.
 
A two-time all-state standout, Smith recently had her high school jersey (No. 14) retired in April. She was a three-time Best of the Preps, four-time all-district performer and was also invited to the USA Volleyball HP training team.
 
Academically, Smith was a member of the National Honor Society, the Beta Club and received prestigious awards for biology, history and physical education.
 
Elise Watford, a native of Birmingham, will join the Bulldogs this fall after transferring from Middle Tennessee where she played in 56 of the team's 109 sets as a true freshman in 2015. She also earned 60 kills for a 1.07 kills per set average.
 
Highlighting her freshman campaign at MTSU, Watford registered six kills in a match four times, the last being at UTEP on Sept. 9. She also picked up a career high four blocks at Rice on Oct. 11, while hitting a career-high .400 against Seattle University on Sept. 14.

Watford, whose older brother Christian was a star basketball player at Indiana University and the NBA, was noticed mostly through playing in collegiate level camps, high school camps and playing top competition with her club team, Southern Performance.  Watford also helped her team to a top-10 finish at the National Championships in Orlando, Florida.
 
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2017 Samford Volleyball Recruiting Class
 
Name, Position, Height, Class, Hometown/Previous School
Sinclaire Green, MB, 6-2, Fr., Hattiesburg, Miss./Oak Grove High School
Corinne Meglic, S, 5-10, Fr., Green Bay, Wis./Notre Dame Academy
Sierra Rayzor, MB, 6-0, Fr., New Albany, Ind./Christian Academy of Indiana
Alex Smith, OH, 5-11, Fr., Chattanooga, Tenn./Grace Baptist Academy
Kendal Strand, OH, 5-11, Fr., Memphis, Tenn./Briarcrest Christian High School
Elise Watford, OH, 5-11, Jr., Birmingham, Ala./Middle Tennessee