Samford Media Guide

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University women's tennis team will play at home for the sixth time in eight matches this season as the Bulldogs welcome the Southern Miss Golden Eagles to the Samford Tennis Center for a key South Region matchup set to begin Saturday at noon (CST).
 
Samford (4-3) has played five of its seven matches at home this season and owns a 4-1 record at the state-of-the-art Samford Tennis Center. The Bulldogs are in the midst of a hard-fought two-match losing streak and are coming off a heartbreaking 4-3 defeat versus UAB on Wednesday.
 
In its most recent outing, Samford and UAB split the singles matches, 3-3, but the Blazers opened the competition with a critical victory in doubles play that proved to be the decisive factor of the contest.
 
On courts No. 2 and 3, the Bulldogs and Blazers traded 8-6 victories, sending the clinching match to court No. 1 where UAB's combination of Rachel Daniell and Menanteau Moolman held on for a 9-8 win over Samford's Kristin Lewis and Stephanie N'tcha. With the heartbreaking loss, the Bulldogs' pairing of Lewis and N'tcha moved to 1-1 in doubles play this season.
 
UAB took the early 1-0 lead Wednesday and then earned singles wins on courts No. 1, 2 and 6 to claim the 4-3 team victory.
 
Samford's singles triumphs occurred in the middle of the lineup as N'tcha defeated Moolman on court No. 3, 6-3, 6-0, and Emily Mallory cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 win over Elaine Simon in the No. 5 singles contest. In the only three-set match of the evening, the Bulldogs' Carita Moolman outlasted UAB's Amy Lowther, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, on court No. 4.
 
With their wins Wednesday, Samford's N'tcha and Mallory both improved to 5-1 in singles play this season. Moolman, the Bulldogs' true freshman from Aranos, Namibia, upped her record to 4-3 this year and a perfect 4-0 when playing on court No. 4.
 
Samford's doubles victory occurred on court No. 2 as the Bulldogs' tandem of Adri Lochner and Moolman defeated UAB's pairing of Caroline Faught and Sarah Witkowski, 8-6.
 
Southern Miss (0-6) enters Saturday's contest with aspirations of earning its first victory of the season. The Golden Eagles are in the midst of a six-match losing streak and are coming off a 4-0 defeat against No. 56-ranked Tulane on Wednesday.
 
So far this season, Southern Miss has dropped nonconference decisions to Mississippi State, 7-0, Houston, 7-0, South Alabama, 6-1, Northwestern State, 7-0, and McNeese State, 6-1. Five of the Golden Eagles' six losses have occurred on the road this year.
 
Last season, Samford and Southern Miss squared off in nonconference play at the Samford Tennis Center and the Bulldogs earned a 7-0 victory.
 
In their 2012 win, the Bulldogs swept the doubles competition and then received singles wins from Lewis, Madelie Janse Van Rensburg, N'tcha, Rebecca Kirven, Lindsey Mallory and Emily Mallory.
 
Following Saturday's home match against Southern Miss, the Samford University women's tennis team will next be in action Wednesday at 3 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs travel to Starkville, Miss., for a nonconference showdown versus the Mississippi State Bulldogs to be held at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.

Samford Media Guide