March 22, 2012
Results
CULLOWHEE, N.C. -
The Samford University women's tennis team picked up a 7-0 Southern Conference win on the road against the Western Carolina Catamounts on Thursday as the Bulldogs opened their arduous five-match road trip with a key league victory held at the Catamount Athletic Complex.
With the triumph, Samford (10-4, 2-3 SoCon) tallied its first road win of the 2012 campaign and improved to 1-1 when playing away from home this season. The Bulldogs also snapped a two-match SoCon losing streak which featured back-to-back defeats against UNCG and Elon last week.
Thursday's triumph marked Samford's sixth shutout victory of the dual-match season. Already this year, the Bulldogs have also tallied shutout wins against Jacksonville State, 7-0, South Alabama, 4-0, Southern Miss, 7-0, UAB, 7-0, and UTSA, 7-0.
Western Carolina (1-11, 0-4 SoCon) suffered its fifth-straight loss Thursday. The Catamounts opened their 2012 season with six-straight defeats before earning a 4-3 triumph at Mars Hill on March 9. Since then, Western Carolina has been defeated in consecutive matches against Elon, 7-0, UNC Asheville, 4-3, Charlotte, 7-0, and No. 74-ranked College of Charleston, 4-0, and Samford, 7-0.
Against Western Carolina on Thursday, Samford swept all three doubles matches by identical scores of 8-1 to take an early 1-0 lead in the SoCon contest.
The Bulldogs then continued their dominance in singles play by earning straight-set victories on all six courts. In matches Nos. 4-6, respectively, Samford's Lindsey Mallory, Jessica Diamond and Emily Mallory all registered 6-0, 6-0 triumphs over their Western Carolina counterparts.
In the No. 1 singles contest, the Bulldogs' Madelie Janse Van Rensburg defeated the Catamounts' Ainhoa Iglesias Diaz, 6-1, 6-0, while Kristin Lewis defeated Megan McLinden on court No. 2, 6-1, 6-2, and Rebecca Kirven topped Karen Jimenez, 6-1, 6-3, in the No. 3 singles match.
Samford's Janse Van Rensburg picked up her fourth-straight singles victory and improved her team-leading record on the season to 12-2. Lindsey Mallory tallied her second-straight win and moved to 8-4 in singles play this year.
The Samford University women's tennis team will next be in action Saturday at 11 a.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs head to Greenville, S.C., for a key SoCon showdown against the Furman Lady Paladins.
