April 23, 2010
MT. PLEASANT, S.C. -
The Samford women's tennis team will begin its quest for a second conference tournament championship in three years Saturday as the second-seeded Bulldogs face the third-seeded Furman Lady Paladins in the semifinal round of the Southern Conference Tournament at 2 p.m. (CDT) at the Patriot's Point Tennis Center.
Samford (17-5) heads into the matchup riding the positive momentum of its longest winning streak of the 2010 campaign. The Bulldogs have been victorious in nine straight matches and have not been defeated since losing to 70th-ranked North Florida on March 16.
Since then, Samford has rattled off consecutive wins against No. 67 Tulane, Furman, Wofford, UNC Greensboro, Elon, Chattanooga, Georgia Southern, Appalachian State and Western Carolina.
The Bulldogs finished SoCon play with a near-perfect 9-1 record and concluded the regular season as the second-place team in the conference. Samford's lone SoCon loss occurred against College of Charleston on Feb. 27. College of Charleston finished conference play with a perfect 10-0 record and as the first-place team in the league.
Furman (15-7), the third-place team in the SoCon, concluded conference play with an 8-2 record. The Lady Paladins' two losses in league competition came against Samford 6-1 and College of Charleston 6-1.
Heading into Saturday's semifinal-round showdown, Furman boasts a four-match winning streak. Since losing at home to College of Charleston on April 7, the Lady Paladins have strung together consecutive victories against Elon, UNC Greensboro, Western Carolina and Davidson.
This season marked the first time since 1998 that Furman did not win the SoCon regular-season title. After Georgia Southern earned the championship in 1998, the Lady Paladins tallied 11-consecutive titles from 1999-2009.
Earlier this year, Samford handed Furman its first SoCon regular-season defeat in exactly 12 years as the Bulldogs snapped the Lady Paladin's 100-match conference winning streak by a score of 6-1. Heading into the March 27 contest, Furman had not been defeated in SoCon play since March 27, 1998, when they were beaten by UNC Greensboro, 5-4.
Samford will attempt to reach the NCAA Tournament for a second time in three seasons. The winner of the SoCon Tournament will receive an automatic bid to the prestigious field of 64. In 2008, the Bulldogs won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament to earn the program's second appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Samford also reached the NCAA Tournament in 2004.
The winner of Saturday's semifinal match will advance to Sunday's championship contest where they will face either the top-seeded College of Charleston Cougars or the fourth-seeded Davidson Wildcats at 1 p.m. (CDT) at the Patriot's Point Tennis Center in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.
