Samford Volleyball Heads to Orlando, Fla., For Tournament

--- Bulldogs prepare for four-team tournament Friday and Saturday ---

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team heads to Orlando, Fla., for a four-team tournament hosted by University of Central Florida this weekend.

Samford (0-2) will take on host Central Florida (1-2) and the Wolverines of Utah Valley State College (1-2). The Bulldogs will also take on the Lady Paladins of Furman University (2-1) in a mid-morning match on Saturday.

The Bulldogs meet Furman this weekend after falling to them during the spring. Samford looks to get revenge by taking home a win.

“Since we saw them (Furman) in the spring, we have a good idea of live action against them,” said head coach Michelle Durban. “They are a good disciplined team, so I think we will definitely have to play smart against them.”

Samford hopes to bounce back this week from the 0-2 start they got last week, as they fell to Music City foes, Belmont and Lipscomb.

“We’ve had a very intense week of practice, and we have worked on some of the things that we saw in our first two matches,” said Durban. “We also looked at things that we need to improve, and that has been our focus this week.

“I expect to see continued improvement. We’ve talked to the players about being more aware of the errors they are making at key times, and making sure that when we are in a situation where we need to keep the ball in play, we keep the ball in play instead of going for the kill.”

The first match for the Bulldogs begins Friday at 1 p.m., when they face off with the UCF Golden Knights. The Bulldogs will then take on Utah Valley State at 5 p.m. Match play will continue on Saturday as Samford takes on Furman at 11 a.m., instead of the previous scheduled time, 1 p.m.