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STARKVILLE, Miss. -- The No. 69 Samford University men's tennis team competed in its third-consecutive road match against a nationally-ranked opponent Sunday as the Bulldogs were defeated by the ninth-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs, 7-0, in a nonconference matchup held at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
"We played a very good team today, and at some spots, were able to compete during certain times in the match," said Samford head coach
Rahim Esmail. "We actually played our best doubles point overall this season, I felt. We had opportunities on each doubles court but could not capitalize on them. We need to start doing a lot of things better as a team, day-in and day-out, if we want to give ourselves a chance at being successful."
Samford (1-3) will next be in action Friday at 2 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin a four-game homestand against the UTSA Roadrunners to be held at the Samford Tennis Center.
After opening their season with a 5-1 victory over Mercer, the Bulldogs have dropped three straight dual-match decisions, but all three of the losses have come versus ranked opponents. Already this season, Samford has squared off with No. 9-ranked
Mississippi State (7-0), No. 46 Elon and No. 56 Indiana.
"?We have played a tough schedule thus far, but I feel we are just where we need to be right now at this point in the season," Esmail said. "I am looking forward to this week of practice, to see how motivated we are as a group to continue to improve and grow. We have some tough matches coming up this weekend and we will have to be ready to compete hard."
MSU took an early 1-0 lead by claiming the doubles point. The Bulldogs then swept the singles matches to record the 7-0 win.
Saturday's loss marked the first time that the Bulldogs were swept, 7-0, in a dual match since losing at Mississippi State last season by a similar score Feb. 23. MSU was ranked No. 11 in the nation during last year's meeting.
With Sunday's loss, Samford fell to 3-11 all-time against the Bulldogs. SU has been defeated in seven straight matches with Mississippi State and the Bulldogs have not been victorious in the rivalry since 1975.
Mississippi State improved to 4-0 against ranked opponents in 2014 as the Bulldogs started 7-0 for the second straight season and the fourth time in program history. MSU has won its last eight matches at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre dating back to last season.
The Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Friday at 2 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin a four-game homestand against the UTSA Roadrunners to be held at the Samford Tennis Center.
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