Sept. 10, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford University volleyball team returns to action this weekend as they participate in the Dayton Flyer Classic on Friday and Saturday. There, the Bulldogs will meet Connecticut and Creighton for the first time in school history, while Dayton will be Samford's second NCAA Tournament team to play against in the past week.

The Bulldogs enter the weekend after a very emotional week. Samford went winless in the Belmont Tournament last weekend, falling to Central Arkansas (3-0), Southeast Missouri (3-2) and Belmont (3-0). Then, on Tuesday, the Samford family took a blow as news of the death of men's basketball senior forward, Jim Griffin, broke. For that reason, the Bulldogs postponed their match with in-state rival Troy that was originally scheduled for Tuesday evening.

The weekend brings a challenge of focusing on what lies ahead despite what has happened this week.

"This is going to be a very tough weekend because of the difficult emotions we battled this week and because we have scheduled very difficult opponents," Samford head coach Derek Schroeder said. "Playing these squads still gives us the opportunity we were looking for when we scheduled them and that is to get to a high level of execution going into conference play in two weeks."

Last weekend was filled with learning experiences as Samford played several close matches with different opponents last week. Three different sets last weekend were decided by two points.

"I couldn't ask for more from learning experiences," Schroeder said. "Yes, we would have liked to come out on top of those sets, but our individual play or discipline in our systems broke down. This is going to happen with a young team but we can strive week in and week out to be better in those tight spots."

The young Samford team is led by freshmen all around. Freshman outside hitter Allie Bettinger is the team's kills leader with just over three kills per set while freshman libero Alexis Bauer has tallied 3.67 digs per set, followed closely behind by several of her young teammates. Freshman setter Casey Garvey is second on the team in assists per set with 4.90, just behind junior setter Hillary Fountain who has 6.43 assists per set on the season. Bettinger and Garvey were also two of the three Bulldogs who posted back-to-back double-doubles last weekend.

Samford's first opponent in the Dayton Flyer Classic will be the University of Connecticut. The Bulldogs and Huskies will face off at 4:30 p.m., in the first match of the two-day tournament held at the Frericks Center on the University of Dayton campus. This will be the first time in school history that the two teams have met.

Connecticut moved to 3-5 on the season after defeating Harvard on Tuesday. So far, the Huskies have defeated Long Island (3-0) and New Hampshire (3-1) along with Harvard but own losses to St. Mary's (3-1), Nevada (3-2), TCU (3-2) and nationally-ranked UC Irvine (3-2) and California (3-0).

Leading the Huskies so far this season are Rebecca Murray and Jordan Kirk, who are averaging just under three kills per set. Murray has started all eight contests for Connecticut while Kirk has started all but one. Jessica Issac leads the defensive front for the Huskies with 3.03 digs per set while Samantha Arriaran has dished out 286 assists so far this season.

Next, the Bulldogs will play host team Dayton in the first match of the second day of the Classic. The Bulldogs and Flyers will face off at 11 a.m. The two teams have only met once before, when Dayton defeated Samford, 3-1, on Sept. 2, 1992.

The Flyers, who hosted the first round of the NCAA Tournament and eventually fell to Tulane, are undefeated on the season. Dayton has taken down all six of its previous opponents, including No. 19 Purdue. The Flyers have five players averaging more than two kills per set, led by Rachel Krabacher (3.83 kps) and Lindsay Fletemier (3.36 kps). Paige Vargas leads the Dayton back row defense with 4.27 digs per set. The Flyers as a whole average 2.16 block per set while hitting an average of .244 as a team.

Samford will wrap up play in the Classic against another first-time opponent in Creighton on Saturday at 5 p.m. After winning their season opener in a sweep of Texas Tech, the Jays have lost five straight including 3-0 losses to nationally-ranked Illinois and Nebraska.

2008 Honorable Mention All-American Jessica Houts leads Creighton with 2.90 kills per set and 1.90 blocks per set. The Jays' libero Nayka Benitez leads her team with 4.35 digs per set. The Bluejays average 11.45 kills per set and 3.20 blocks per set.

"Before some injuries this was going to be a tough weekend, now it gets even harder. We are still preparing weekly by improving in our systems and executing individual skills. These three quality teams are going to play consistent volleyball. We are striving to do so as well, so why not this weekend?"

Samford's matches in the Dayton Flyer Classic can be followed via live stats through links on the schedule pages at www.samfordsports.com or www.daytonflyers.com. A full recap and results will be available on www.samfordsports.com after each match.