March 22, 2009
Results
SPARTANBURG, S.C. -
The Samford University women's tennis team picked up its first road victory of the 2009 season Sunday as the Bulldogs fought to a 4-3 Southern Conference win against the Wofford Terriers at the Reeves Tennis Center.
With the hard-fought victory, Samford (4-7, 1-2 SoCon) concluded its weekend road trip with a 1-1 record. On Saturday, the Bulldogs dropped a 7-0 decision at Furman.
Sunday's match was only Samford's fourth road contest of the 2009 campaign. The Bulldogs improved their record to 1-3 with the win. Samford's previous three losses occurred at No. 65 Alabama, Southern Miss and Furman.
Wofford (2-8, 1-2 SoCon) suffered its second straight loss Sunday and fell to 2-4 when playing at home this season. Since earning a 7-0 victory against Western Carolina on Tuesday, the Terriers have dropped consecutive matches to Chattanooga 5-2 and Samford 4-3.
In Sunday's victory, Samford won the doubles point and streaked to straight-set singles triumphs on courts No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4.
The key victory of the day proved to be the Bulldogs' doubles win on court No. 2. With the score of doubles play tied at 1-1, Samford's tandem comprised of Andrie Meiring and Jessica Diamond outlasted Wofford's pair of Haley Baird and Sabrina Smyers, 8-6.
Diamond and Meiring's crucial doubles win clinched the opening point of the match for Samford in what proved to be the deciding factor in Sunday's victory.
Meiring, the Bulldogs' talented sophomore from Stellenbosch, South Africa, tallied her seventh-consecutive doubles win in the match.
In singles play, Samford's Taylor Morgan breezed to a 6-2, 6-1 victory on court No. 1, while Meiring cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 triumph against Wofford's Ashley Lawrence on court No. 2. The Bulldogs' Diamond then closed out the match with a similar straight-set win over Smyers in the No. 4 singles competition, 6-1, 6-3.
Samford's Morgan and Meiring both improved to 6-5 in singles play this season. Morgan has won all of her matches on court No. 1, while Meiring has tallied all of her victories on court No. 2.
The Samford women's tennis team will next be in action March 29 at 11 a.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs welcome the Davidson Wildcats to the Samford Tennis Center for another critical SoCon matchup.
