Nov. 12, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- Samford head volleyball coach Derek Schroeder and his staff are excited to announce four highly-touted signees for the 2009 season. The class, which includes two Louisville standouts, an Alabama native and a Texas star, boasts over 20 championships including six national titles, among the four of them.

Schroeder and his staff have worked hard during the past year to find the best the nation has to offer.

"When Jen Gandolph took the assistant coaching position as recruiting coordinator, we talked about what we wanted out of the 2009 class and how they would be the foundation for how high we can take Samford volleyball," Schroeder said. "We have kids who have competed and won national championships in Open Club, we have kids who have won high school state championships and kids who have competed to keep their teams in the Prep High School national rankings. All these kids bring toughness, a desire and an edge which will be the base of the future for Samford volleyball."

While Samford loses five talented seniors, the Bulldogs will welcome four newcomers to the squad in Casey Garvey, Alexis "Lexi" Bauer, Elizabeth Neisler and Allie Bettinger.

Casey Garvey comes from a well-known volleyball family in Louisville, Ky. Her father, Ken Garvey coaches the 16-1 team at MAVA (MidAmerica Volleyball Association) while her brothers Eric and Todd are coaches in the Louisville area. Todd is Casey's high school coach at Mercy Academy while Eric coaches fellow recruit Lexi Bauer at Sacred Heart Academy.

Garvey is no stranger to championship volleyball. In her four years at Mercy Academy, her squad has won nine different championships. The Jaguars have been district and regional champions since 2005 and are the recent 2008 Kentucky State Champions. The Mercy varsity volleyball team is also currently ranked number one in the nation by PrepVolleyball.

The Louisville native and Mercy captain was named Most Valuable Player at the Kentucky State Tournament this year and also received all-state first team honors and was the sixth region Player of the Year. She was named ESPN's Athlete of the Week on Nov. 5, and earned a place on the Tampa Berkeley Prep All-Tournament team.

In 2007, the 5'9" setter was on the first team All-State Tournament team, All-District team and the Tampa Berkeley Prep All-Tournament team, and in 2006 she was named to the All-Region team as a starting sophomore varsity setter.

While playing six years for MAVA, each of her teams had never finished lower than third at AAU Nationals and fifth at the Junior Olympics in the Open Division. In 2005, her team was the runner-up at the AAU Nationals and third in the Junior Olympics and in 2006, she was a part of the 15's National Championship team and the runner-up squad at the Junior Olympics. In 2007, her team took third place at the AAU Nationals and fifth at the Junior Olympics and in 2008, her team won the Wisconsin Dells Tournament and was third at the AAU Nationals and JVDA Nationals.

For the past three years, Garvey has been an AAU All-American and was named to the Junior Olympic All-tournament team in 2006 and 2007 and the JVDA Wisconsin Dells All-tournament team in 2008.

Garvey holds a 3.5 GPA and made the honor roll her freshman and sophomore years. She is active in the Pep Club, SAC (Student Activity Committee), HPSE (Health Promotions School of Excellence) and Team Mercy (a fitness group of faculty and students).

"Casey is exactly the type of kid I knew we could get at Samford that will have a volleyball I.Q. through the roof," Schroeder said. "She is the daughter of a long time successful coach, her brothers are two of the best prep coaches in the country and she has always played on a MAVA team that has achieved success because of determination and intelligence. She and Hillary Fountain together will take our offense to new levels."

Lexi Bauer is a 5'5" libero hailing from Floyds Knobs, Ind. Bauer has played volleyball all four years of high school and has played for KIVA (Kentucky Indiana Volleyball Academy) for 10 years. As a freshman, she played on the freshman, junior varsity and varsity teams and has been a member of the varsity squad since. In 2008, the Sacred Heart volleyball team was ranked 16th in the nation and Bauer was named to the All-Region and All-State teams.

With KIVA, Bauer was a part of the 2004, 2005, and 2007 AAU Gold winning teams and the 2003, 2006 and 2008 AAU runner-up teams. She also won gold in the Open Division at the 2004 and 2006 Junior Olympics and silver at the 2005 Junior Olympics. She was named the 2004, 2005 and 2007 AAU Most Valuable Player and in 2006 earned the AAU All American status while also being named the Junior Olympic MVP. From 2005-08, Bauer has been named to the Academic All-State team.

"Lexi was my first verbal commitment as Samford's coach and she is one of my favorite kids I have ever been in a gym with," Schroeder said. "Lexi is going to bring toughness to our team on the defensive side of the ball and as a former setter and MVP at National Championships, she is going to increase our volleyball knowledge."

Alabama native Elizabeth Neisler was a member of a two-time 4A State Championship team at Jacksonville High School in Jacksonville, Ala. Also in 2006, her team came in second at the state championships and made it to the Elite Eight in 2005.

As a freshman, Neisler was Honorable Mention All-State and as a sophomore, she was named First Team All-State and earned a spot on the All-tournament team for the Area Tournament and the Regional Tournament. In 2007, she was named First Team All State, Most Valuable Player at the Alabama State Volleyball Tournament, Anniston State 4A Player of the Year, and MVP and all-tournament team for the Area and Regional tournaments.

This year as her team won the State Championship, the 6'1" middle blocker was named the MVP of the State tournament. She was also selected to the Alabama All-Star team for the North and named MVP and all-tournament for the Area and Regional Tournaments again. She is also one of three finalists for the Gatorade Player of the Year in Alabama, an award that will be announced in the coming weeks. Neisler has played club volleyball with Team Sting for the past two years.

At Jacksonville High School, she is a member of the National Honor Society and is involved in the Key Club, Drama Club, J-Club and volunteers with the local YMCA After-School care.

"Elizabeth is a great athlete and adds some Alabama flavor to our class," Schroeder said. "She is going to do great things at the net for us attacking but especially blocking the ball and making it hard to score points against our defense."

Rounding out the 2009 classes is a 5'11 outside hittier from Willow Park, Texas. While playing at Aledo High School in Aledo, Texas, Allie Bettinger and her team went undefeated in District play twice and have been District Champions and Area Champions for the past three years. The Bearcats were Texas 8-4A Co-District Champions in 2006, 8-4A District Champions in 2007 and 6-4A District Champions in 2008. In 2006, Aledo made it to the quarterfinals in the Regionals and in 2007, the Bearcats made the Regional semifinals. Since 2006, the Bearcats have won 38 consecutive district matches.

Bettinger was named 2006 Second Team All-District and Academic All-District while in 2007, she earned the 8-4A Outstanding Hitting Award and was named Academic All-District again. In 2008, she was the All-Tournament Hitter at the Bev Ball Classic.

While playing for the Texas Advantage Volleyball club team (TAV) for the past four years, she was on the 2007 16 Open Division runner-up team and 2008 17 National Division team that came in fifth place.

At Aledo High School, Bettinger is a member of the National Honor Society and also the track team which has been District Champions for the past three years. She has been a regional qualifier in the 4x400 relay, long jump and triple jump.

"Allie wraps up our 2009 class and brings a great deal of athleticism and some much needed bang when attacking at the pins," Schroeder said. "We will be replacing a lot of our highly ranked offense from 2008 and Allie will be a large part of our sideout offense and transition attack.

"I am very excited to release my first class as a head coach, my first class at Samford and a class that includes such great kids who have played and won at the highest level available to them," Schroeder said.