BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford volleyball team earned a 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-12) win over Western Carolina Friday night in the Pete Hanna Center.
 
The win was Samford head coach Kelor Chan's 400^th career victory. Samford improved to 8-5 overall and 2-1 in Southern Conference play with the win. Western Carolina fell to 7-8 overall and 1-1 in league play.
 
"The things we worked on this week were implemented and that was great," Chan said. "From taking something contextually as a team and being able to actually do it is kind of the sweet spot that you want to be in and I thought our team did the things we talked about, which is really focus on the defensive side of the ball."
 
Samford was led by Kaleigh Meritt with 19 kills and 11 digs. Ally Cordes led the team in digs with 17.
 
For Western Carolina, Ali Morris led the way with eight kills and eight digs.
 
In the first set, Samford raced out to an 8-1 lead after a kill by Lexi Thatcher. Western Carolina fought back to cut the lead to four points at 13-9. The Bulldogs extended the lead back out to eight points at 18-10 following a WCU attack error. Samford took the first set by a score of 25-18.
 
The Bulldogs took an early 7-3 lead in the second set after a kill by Gracie Lynn Butler. The Catamounts came back to close to within one point at 8-7. Samford then went on a 9-3 run to take a 17-10 lead after a kill by Kate Wonus. Samford led by as many as nine points down the stretch and the Bulldogs took the second set, 25-16.
 
Samford took an early 6-1 lead in the third set following a service ace by Kate Morgan. After Western Carolina cut the lead to two points at 10-8, Samford went on an 11-1 run to take a 21-9 lead after a WCU attack error. The Bulldogs took the third set, 25-12 and the match, 3-0.
 
Samford will play host to the ETSU Bucs Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
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