BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford Volleyball team will play its first two home matches of the 2022 season when they host Clemson on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Murray State on Sunday at 2:00 p.m. as part of the Samford Invite.
 
Both Friday and Sunday's matches at the Pete Hanna Center will be streamed live on ESPN+. Clemson and Murray State will additionally play a neutral-site contest on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.
 
Samford Volleyball (4-6) posted a record of 1-2 over last weekend's action in the Gamecock Classic, hosted by Jacksonville State University.
 
The Bulldogs pulled of a dramatic 3-2 victory over Nicholls State on Saturday after falling down 2-0 to begin the match. Freshman setter Samantha Horn provided a spark off the bench in her collegiate debut against the Colonels, tallying 28 assists and seven digs to help ignite the comeback victory. 
 
Outside hitters Lauren Deaton and Kenya McQuirter both have totaled a team-high 119 kills while leading the Bulldogs and ranking sixth in the SoCon with an average of 3.22 kills per set. Deaton currently ranks second in program history with 1,621 career kills. The Memphis, Tenn. native needs just 19 more to become the program's leader in career kills.
 
Junior middle blocker Kate Wonus came into the week leading the SoCon with a .414 hitting percentage. She hit a team-best .484 over four matches last week while logging 10 kills in three contests.
 
Junior setter Kayla Keshock leads the SoCon with an average of 10.29 assists per set. She is currently the lone player averaging double-digit assists per set in the conference.
 
On the defensive side, Kate Morgan leads the Bulldogs and ranks third in the SoCon in both total digs (145) and digs per set (3.92).
 
The Bulldogs have posted strong service numbers through 10 matches, leading the SoCon and ranking 12th nationally at the beginning of this week with 73 total service aces. Morgan (17), Andie Salasky (16), and Kayla Keshock (15) came into the week with the highest number of individual services aces in the conference.
 
The Bulldogs fell to Clemson in their inaugural meeting with them in 2021 while posting a 4-4 record against Murray State. Despite dropping their most recent contest in 2017, Samford has won three of its last four matches against the Racers.
 
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