Volleyball Set for SoCon Road Match at Samford

Friday, October 7

Birmingham, Ala.

8 PM

Mercer University

Samford

Photo by: David Scearce

Volleyball Set for SoCon Road Match at Samford

10/6/2016 10:47:00 AM | Volleyball

Live Video Live Stats

Friday's 8 p.m. match is lone contest for Mercer this weekend

By: Gerrit Van Genderen

MACON, Ga. – Mercer will look to jump above .500 in Southern Conference play Friday night as the Bears volleyball team travels to Birmingham, Alabama for a key road contest against Samford. The match will be held at the Pete Hanna Center at 8 p.m. ET.

The Bears are tied for fifth in the conference with a 10-6 (2-2 SoCon) record and rank ahead of host Samford (10-8, 1-2) with a little more than a month left in the regular season. It will be Mercer's only match of the weekend after its home non-conference contest against Savannah State on Sunday, Oct. 9 was cancelled two weeks ago.

Mercer is coming off of a straight-sets loss to Chattanooga on Oct. 1, marking its first defeat at Hawkins Arena this season (4-1). Samford has lost two straight, falling to Western Carolina on Oct. 1 and ETSU on Sept. 24.

FRIDAY'S MATCHUP
Location: Birmingham, Ala. – Pete Hanna Center
Schedule: Friday, Oct. 7 – 8 p.m. ET
Watch: SoCon Digital Network
Follow Along: Live Stats
Twitter Updates: @MercerBearsVB

SERIES HISTORY
Mercer hasn't fared well in the all-time series against Samford, trailing 6-24 through 30 matches. The Bears and the Bulldogs split their 2015 matches with a final score of 3-1 in both. Mercer's win came at home on Oct. 17, 2016.

NOTABLES

Mercer and Samford are tied with Wofford for the most total wins (10) among SoCon teams.
Friday's match will feature the Sept. 19 SoCon Players of the Week in Samford outside hitter Erin Bognar and Mercer libero Tori Penrod.
Penrod, who reached 1,500 career digs last weekend, ranks second in the SoCon with 307 total digs and an average of 4.87 digs per set.
Morgan MacGilvary surpassed 500 career kills last weekend. She ranks in the SoCon's top-10 in hitting percentage (.292) and kills per set (3.14) while ranking top-five in total kills (198) and service aces (19).
Another Bear, Ellie James, can reach the 500 career-kill milestone this weekend with four against Samford.
For the fourth straight week, Emily Krogman leads the SoCon in aces per set (0.40). She ranks second with 25 total aces.
Mercer and Samford rank among the conference's top-three teams in hitting percentage. Additionally, Mercer ranks second in aces per set and fifth in total blocks.
Mercer is 2-3 in road matches this season.

SCOUTING SAMFORD
The Bulldogs are riding a two-match losing streak dating back to Sept. 24, but are difficult to beat on their home court at the Pete Hanna Center. Samford is 6-2 at home this season, including a 3-0 victory against Chattanooga for its lone SoCon win.

Erin Bognar is one of the SoCon's most dangerous attackers, ranking second individually with 264 kills and is one of two players to average at least four kills per set. Samford's Erika Pifer is the league leader in assists (644).

HOW TO FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Volleyball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerBearsVB (Twitter), and @mercervolleyball (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.