BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – We continue this year's Inside Athletics series, Presented by Alabama Power, with Volleyball Head Coach Keylor Chan.
 
The Bulldogs being their quest for a fifth Southern Conference Tournament under Coach Chan on Friday in Greenville, S.C. A mixture of under and upperclassmen has created balance on the 2022 Samford squad, but Chan noted that there is some peace of mind in having experience student-athletes that have been on championship teams in years past.
 
"You can't overestimate the power of experience.," Chan said. "It's nice having athletes that have been there and done that and been part of championship teams in the past. However, that doesn't guarantee championship teams in the future. We need to remain humble enough to realize that we have what it takes and know that other teams too."
 
The Bulldogs earned the No. 2 seed by posting a SoCon record of 11-5 and will take on No. 7 seed the Citadel on Friday. It will be the third meeting between the two teams this season, with the Bulldogs coming away victorious in both matchups this season.
 
"You know each other pretty well now," Chan said. "You have enough information through scouting and video work where there is nothing new that is going to be uncovered. You want to go down with who you are and who you want to be and attack certain weaknesses that you know. It's time to take the coaching hat off and become the ambassador of mojo. This about creating mojo and confidence. There is an art to all of these things and those are what I'll be trying to focus on."
 
The Bulldogs hit their stride in the month of October, winning seven of nine contests and rattling off a seven-match win streak from Oct. 1-22 that helped them bolster their spot in the SoCon Standings. Samford went 5-0 at home to help contribute to an 8-2 record in matches platyed at the Pete Hanna Center in 2022.
 
"Functionally, we started focusing on defense," Chan said. "We were watching some things and realized that we needed to improve defensively. We also needed to win some moments. Even in the matches we lost, they could have turned if we had won the big moments. At home, we were able to do that. The goal is to pack up what we have at home and be able to do that on the road."
 
One of the biggest contributing factors to the Bulldogs' success in 2022 has been their ability to attack in the middle. Middle blockers Kate Wonus (.304) and Greer Golden (.301) finished third and fourth in the SoCon in hitting percentage this seasons as part a much more balanced attack from previous years.
 
"We feel that to make a jump, beyond the Southern Conference, we're going to have to have a more even distribution of our offense," Chan said.  "There has been a concerted effort to set the middle. We have great outside hitters, and that starts your offense, but you need middles to attack the ball and be effective to win at a high rate for a long time."
The Bulldogs also saw an exceptional defensive from SoCon Libero of the Year Kate Morgan in 2022. The sophomore defensive specialist finished the regular season ranking second in the league in digs per set at 4.54.
 
"She's a more complete Libero," Chan said. "She can be efficient in most phases that we ask liberos to be. She still has some work to do, but her defensive effort and her skill and ability in that area have allowed her to flourish and allowed our program to continue to grow."
 
Chan noted that The Citadel is a tough first-round draw. The Bulldogs claimed the most recent SoCon Tournament Championship and is an opponent to not be taken lightly. 
 
"They're a tough team," Chan said. "They have a lot on their plate, being students at The Citadel. As far as understanding what hard work is, being tough, they are. I think that's going to lead them to being a very difficult first round opponent for us. They also know how to do it because they did it last year. We're going to have to make sure that we come prepared and ready to compete."


 
First serve for Friday's opening-round tilt will be at 4:00 p.m. (CST).
 
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