Live ScoringGREENVILLE, S.C. -- The No. 71-ranked Samford University women's tennis team, off to its best start in school history, will square off against the 68
th-ranked Furman Paladins on Saturday at 11 a.m. (CDT) in a monumental Southern Conference showdown to be held at the Mickel Tennis Center.
Samford (12-1, 4-0 SoCon) heads into the contest boasting a 10-match winning streak and has not been defeated in dual-match play since falling at No. 21-ranked Auburn on Feb. 8.
Since then, the Bulldogs have rattled off consecutive victories against UTSA, 6-1, Jacksonville State, 7-0, UAB, 6-1, Appalachian State, 4-3, Western Carolina, 6-1, South Alabama, 5-2, Georgia Southern, 7-0, Charlotte, 6-1, Davidson, 6-1, and at UCF on Tuesday, 4-3.
In its last 10 outings, Samford has outscored the opposition by a total of 57-13.
The Bulldogs defeated UCF in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday and continued their stellar play this season by improving its road record to 4-1 on the year. First-place Samford is off to its best start in school history.
The nation's 71
st-ranked Bulldogs dropped the doubles point against the Knights, but rallied back to win four of the six singles matches to register its 4-3 team victory.
Samford notched three of their four critical singles triumphs in three sets. On court No. 1,
Stephanie N'tcha battled to a 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 victory over UCF's Josephine Haraldson, while senior
Emily Mallory earned a key 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win against the Knight's Clare Mendell in the No. 5 singles contest.
Additionally, the Bulldogs' No. 6 singles player
Lauren Caballero recorded one of the biggest triumphs of the day Tuesday as she outlasted UCF's Annika Hepp, 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.
Caballero, Samford's talented redshirt freshman from Brentwood, Tenn., improved her singles record on the season to 8-2 with the victory.
The Bulldogs have dominated singles play this season and have outscored their opposition by a count of 60-15. On Tuesday, Samford's
Jessica Northcutt streaked past Sofia Baptista, 6-3, 6-4, to improve to 11-2 in dual-match play. Furthermore, N'tcha moved to 10-2 on the year, while Mallory and Caballero both increased their singles records to 8-2.
Furman (10-5, 3-0 SoCon) is in the midst of a three-match winning streak and is coming off a dominant 7-0 home victory against Appalachian State on Wednesday. The Paladins boast a perfect 6-0 record when playing at home this season.
In last year's annual meeting between Samford and Furman, the Bulldogs dropped a 6-1 home decision in a midseason conference contest held at the Samford Tennis Center.
The Paladins earned wins on courts No. 2 and No. 3 to claim the doubles point. Furman then tallied singles victories from Lauren Kline (No. 1), Alex Moreno-Kaste (No. 2), Katherine Oudin (No. 3), Michelle Stanford (No. 4) and Margaret Boyette (No. 6) to earn the 6-1 team victory.
Samford's lone singles win occurred on court No. 5 as the Bulldogs' Mallory battled to a 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (8) triumph over Furman's Amanda Murray.
Following Saturday's critical SoCon showdown at Furman, the Samford University women's tennis team will next be in action Sunday at 11 a.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs travel to Spartanburg for another key league matchup against the Wofford Terriers to be held at the John E. Reeves Tennis Center.
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