Samford Volleyball Host Chattanooga For First Home Match

--- The Bulldogs look for their first win of the season ---

Sept. 6, 2006

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford volleyball team will hold its first match at home this Wednesday against the Lady Mocs of Chattanooga. Match play will start at 6 p.m.

The Bulldogs last met the Lady Mocs in Chattanooga in 2004, when they defeated Chattanooga, 3-2. This will be the nineteenth time the Bulldogs and Lady Mocs have faced off overall. Friday will mark Head Coach Michelle Durban’s second meeting with Lisa Rhodes’ Lady Mocs in her time here at Samford. Durban and her Bulldogs are excited about finally playing at home after playing the last two weekends on the road.

“I think our players are excited to finally be able to play in front of their friends,” Durban said. “They’ve been playing in front of their families the past two weekends, so I think there’s always more excitement around when fellow students and other athletes are able to come and watch.”

The Bulldogs look for their first win of the season. They have not faired well in the first two weekends of the season. Samford dropped to 0-5 this weekend at the University of Central Florida Tournament, losing to host team UCF, the Wolverines of Utah Valley State, and the Furman Paladins.

“We’ve been trying to show the girls what we are talking about when we are trying to make corrections from the bench, said Durban. “We are trying to make the girls understand in certain situations what they need to be doing as well as trying to lessen the amount of mistakes that we have been making by showing them what they are doing and then correcting them in practice as well.”

“I know we’ve talked to a few of them and they feel like they’ve got something to prove to show that we aren’t just off to another 0-5 start. We are better and we need to be able to show that especially at home.”

Samford will be back in action Sept. 8, as they travel to Mobile to play in the South Alabama Tournament. The Bulldogs will take on the Auburn Tigers on Friday at 4 p.m. Match play will continue on Saturday as Samford takes on host South Alabama at 1:30 p.m., and then Southeastern Louisiana at 4 p.m.

*** SAMFORD BULLDOGS ***