COOKEVILLE, Tenn. - The Samford volleyball team opened play today at the Golden Eagle Invitational, hosted by Tennessee Tech. The Bulldogs played two matches today, dropping their opener 3-0 against Wichita State (25-15,25-20,25-12) in the morning before bouncing back to defeat Radford 3-0 (25-17,25-18,25-15). Samford's record moves to 3-4 after they split their matches today.

MATCH 1: Wichita State - 3 | Samford - 0

The Bulldogs fell behind to the Shockers as Wichita State won eight points in a row in the opening set to take a 14-4 lead. The deficit was too large for the Dogs to come back from as they dropped the opening set 25-15. Samford hit just .048 in the opening set compared to .268 for the Shockers. The two sides played a competitive, back-and-forth, second set the went the way of WSU. The Bulldogs improved their offensive attack as they hit .229 in the second set, but they were still behind the Shockers as they took the second set 25-20.

Wichita closed out the match 25-12 in the final set, as the Bulldogs struggled to stop the Shockers' offense. Ally Cordes led the way for Samford with ten kills, while Greer Golden finished with eight, adding five blocks. Kaleigh Meritt was held in check as she had just five kills on 39 attempts, but led the team with nine digs. Starting setter Shea Bruntmyer led the team with 26 assists, but as a team, Samford was outhit .343 to .155.

MATCH 2: Samford - 3 | Radford - 0

Samford returned to the gym for the second time today as they faced off against a Highlanders team that had defeated Tennessee Tech earlier in the day. The Bulldogs had their way with their nighttime opponents as they secured a dominant three-set victory. A back-and-forth beginning to the opening set started to lean Samford's way after five straight points to give the Dogs a 15-10 lead. Samford hit .536 in the opening set, led by Ally Cordes early on.

After taking the second set, the Bulldogs were able to close out Radford with Cordes and Meritt leading the way offensively as the two had 13 and 14 kills, respectively in the match. Sydney Waller got the start in match two of the day and added eight kills, as did Greer Golden, who hit .727 in the match. Bruntmyer finished with 39 assists while three different Bulldogs had double-digit digs, Merrit, Amelia Johnston, and Carly Minatel. 

The Bulldogs easily closed out Radford 25-15 in the final frame to complete the three-set sweep and capture the victory. As a team, the Dogs hit .404 and held the Highlander to .216.

Samford returns to action tomorrow as they close out the tournament against hosts Tennessee Tech. The match is scheduled at 6 p.m. with live video and stat links found here.

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