Oct. 20, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team begins a five-match road swing Wednesday at Southern Conference rival Chattanooga. All eight remaining matches for the Bulldogs are against league opponents; six are on the road.

So far this season, Samford has struggled on the road, holding a 2-4 record away from home. Only one of those losses has been to SoCon foe, Appalachian State, with the remaining three coming to NCAA Tournament teams Belmont and Dayton and in-state rival Troy.

"The road has not been good to us," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said, "but even after some tough losses the last few weeks, we are much better prepared for road tests. We have grown up a bit through this stretch and seen where we need to go."

After beginning the season 3-0 at home, Samford went on a seven-match skid, falling in every match at the Belmont Tournament and the Dayton Flyer Classic. The Bulldogs picked things up with three straight wins at the Memphis Invitational before tacking on four more wins against SoCon opponents at home and a conference win on the road. Since then, Samford has lost three out of four, two of which were on the road.

Samford (12-10, 6-2) comes off a weekend in which it split conference matches with the Citadel and College of Charleston at home. The Samford Bulldogs defeated the Citadel Bulldogs in four sets last Saturday before being swept by College of Charleston in three sets. The loss to College of Charleston ended a 22-match undefeated streak at home for the Bulldogs.

Both College of Charleston and Samford were picked to defend their respective division titles this year. Currently, the league standings have both teams in second place in their divisions. UNC Greensboro, whom Samford will play on the road Nov. 1, leads the North Division while Furman, whom Samford plays on the road Oct. 25, leads the South Division.

Schroeder is not hesitant to point out that this season's standings are much different than last year's. The league is more competitive and there are several surprise teams. However, Schroeder sees his team as one of those surprises.

"I think we are one of those surprise teams," Schroeder said. "Our peers wanted to pick us as preseason North Division Champions but that does not negate the fact we have four freshman making major contributions in every match. We need time and experience to compete at a high level and we have four weeks and eight matches to gain it. Our girls know that nothing worth doing is easy, and we are prepared to put in that work."

Those four freshmen are Allie Bettinger, Elizabeth Neisler, Alexis Bauer and Casey Garvey. Bettinger, a Junior Olympics 18-National title contender in 2009 with Texas Advantage, currently leads her team in kills, averaging 3.20 per set. She also averages 1.95 digs per set and has posted six double-doubles on the season. Neisler, the 2009 Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year, ranks third on the team in kills with 1.85 per set and fourth in blocks with 47 on the year.

Bauer, the 2006 Junior Olympic Most Valuable Player, averages a team-leading 3.59 digs per set. She is just 125 digs away from tying Brook Skinner's (1994) and Courtney Gay's (2008) 416 digs, which is second on the single-season record list. Garvey, a three-time AAU All-American, is second on the team in assists, averaging 1.72 per set. She also leads the team in aces with 24 on the season and is fourth on the team in digs with 1.58 per set.

Senior Sheriden Stangohr leads the Bulldogs in hitting with a .325 percentage while four of her last seven matches have resulted in a hitting percentage of .550 or higher. She also leads her team in blocks with 105 on the year, averaging 1.30 per set which still ranks her 30th in the nation in that category. Junior Hillary Fountain leads her team in assists, averaging 8.82 per set, and is second in digs with 2.17 per set.

The last time Samford and Chattanooga met up on Sept. 30 in Birmingham, the Bulldogs swept the Lady Mocs to capture their third conference win and keep their home streak alive. Samford now leads the all-time series, 14-9. Chattanooga is currently fifth in the North Division standings with a 3-5 league record.

"Chattanooga is a conference opponent that wants to make the championship tournament and needs to win this to stay in the hunt," Schroeder said. "I expect we will get their best game of the year."

Chattanooga (11-9, 3-5 SoCon) comes off a weekend in which it also split a weekend series with College of Charleston and the Citadel. The College of Charleston defeated the Lady Mocs, 3-0 (25-18, 25-16, 25-23) on Saturday before Chattanooga swept the Citadel, 3-0 (25-20, 25-18, 25-21). The Lady Mocs have lost three of their last five matches and hold a 3-6 record at home.

The Lady Mocs are led by Courtney Barnes who averages 2.73 kills per set and is ranked 43rd in the nation in hitting percentage with a .369 percentage. Paula Passmore leads the conference and is ranked eighth in the nation in digs, averaging 5.58 per set while Ellie Kuhn is ranked 46th in the nation in blocks with 1.21 per set.

Match play starts at 6 p.m. CT, at Maclellan Gym on the Chattanooga campus. Fans can follow all the action via live stats and video streaming through links at www.gomocs.com. A full recap and results can be found at www.samfordsports.com upon the completion of the match.