April 7, 2010

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University women's tennis team will put its five-match winning streak on the line Thursday as the Bulldogs play host to the Chattanooga Lady Mocs at 2 p.m. (CDT) in a Southern Conference duel to be held at the Samford Tennis Center.

Samford (13-5, 5-1 SoCon) heads into the contest riding its longest winning streak of the 2010 campaign. Since losing to 70th-ranked North Florida on March 16, the Bulldogs have rattled off consecutive victories against No. 67 Tulane 4-3, Furman 6-1, Wofford 7-0, UNC Greensboro 4-3 and Elon 5-2.

In its win at Elon on Saturday, Samford claimed the doubles point and then received singles victories from Madelie Janse Van Rensburg, Stephanie Parkison, Rebecca Kirven and Lindsey Mallory.

The Bulldogs clinched the victory at the No. 6 singles position as Mallory cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win against Laura Graybill. Samford quickly earned a 4-0 lead in the match by tallying victories in the first three singles contests.

With Kirven's straight-set triumph on court No. 5, the Bulldogs' sophomore from Windermere, Fla., improved her team-leading singles record to 13-5 this season.

Samford's Andrie Meiring also proved to be one of the team's top performers during the month of March. Meiring tallied a 6-3 record at the No. 2 singles position in March and added a 7-2 mark in doubles play.

The Bulldogs' native of Stellenbosch, South Africa, compiled a four-match winning streak in singles play and is in the midst of a six-match winning streak in doubles. In Samford's biggest two victories of the season, a 4-3 triumph against No. 67 Tulane and a 6-1 win against Furman, Meiring went undefeated in both singles and doubles play.

Chattanooga (7-10, 3-4 SoCon) enters Thursday's match having been victorious in three of its previous four outings. The Lady Mocs are coming off a 5-2 victory at Western Carolina on Saturday as they improved to 2-6 in road matches this season.

Jenna Nurik has been Chattanooga's top singles player this year and owns an 18-7 overall record. The Lady Mocs' true freshman from Roswell, Ga., is 11-6 in dual-match play while competing at the No. 1 singles position.

Last season, Samford and Chattanooga squared off in Chattanooga, Tenn., and the Bulldogs rallied for a 5-1 victory.

Following Thursday's SoCon matchup against Chattanooga, the Samford University women's tennis team will next be in action Saturday at 11 a.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs conclude their brief two-match homestand against the Georgia Southern Eagles at the Samford Tennis Center.