BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford Volleyball team will take on the no. 4 ranked Louisville Cardinals in round one of the NCAA Postseason Tournament on Friday, Dec. 2.
First serve from L&N Federal Credit Union Arena is set for 6:00 p.m. (CST), with the match streaming live on ESPN+
The Bulldogs captured their fourth Southern Conference Tournament Championship in five seasons and fifth in seven seasons on Sunday, Nov. 20 with a 3-0 win over host-school Furman.
Samford battled its way to the SoCon Championship game with a pair of five-set wins against The Citadel in the quarterfinals and Western Carolina in the semifinals.
Gracie Lynn Butler, Kenya McQuirter, and Kate Wonus were all named to the All-Tournament Team, with McQuirter earning Tournament MVP honors.
A total of Five Bulldogs earned All-SoCon recognition earlier in the month, with McQuirter earning All-SoCon First Team recognition and sophomore Kate Morgan garnering SoCon Libero of the Year. Lauren Deaton, Butler, and Morgan were all named to the second team while Greer Golden was named to the All-Freshman squad.
Samford finished the regular season leading the SoCon in four different stat categories. The Bulldogs led the league in hitting percentage (.232), assists per set (12.41), kills per set (13.87), and aces per set (1.97).
The Bulldogs rank 7th nationally with an average of 1.97 service aces per set while their 225 total aces rank eighth in the country.
The Cardinals (26-2, 17-1 ACC) are one of four no. 1 national seeds in the tournament. They clinched a share of the 2022 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship with Pittsburg after posting a 17-1 record against ACC opponents this season.
Louisville graduate student outside hitter Claire Chaussee earned ACC Player of the Year earlier this week, while her teammate, senior middle blocker Amaya Tillman was named the ACC Defensive Player of the Year. Louisville's Raquel Lazaro was tabbed the ACC Setter of the Year while Aiko Jones and Elena Scott were also named to the All-ACC First Team.
After leading the Cardinals to a regular season 26-2 regular-season record and third consecutive ACC Championship, Dani Busboom Kelly was named the ACC Coach of the Year for the third straight year and the third time in her career.
The Bulldogs recently faced the Cardinals in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on Dec. 5 of the 2019 season, falling 3-0 in Bowling Green, Ky.
First- and second-round matches will be played December 1-3 at 16 campus sites. Teams winning both matches will continue to regional play on December 8 & 10. Regionals for the NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball Championship will be held at four non-predetermined campus sites, which will be announced on December 4. At each site, four teams will compete in a single-elimination regional semifinal competition.
The regional winners will advance to the national semifinals and championship final hosted by Nebraska in conjunction with the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority (MECA), December 15-17 at CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska. The national semifinal matches will be broadcast on ESPN, and the championship match will be broadcast on ESPN2. All preliminary site match times can be found on the attached championship bracket or online at www.ncaa.com/volleyball.
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