Box Score
Samford StatsSTARKVILLE, Miss. -- All four of the Samford women's tennis team's losses this season have come against nationally-ranked opponents. On Thursday, the Bulldogs squared off against the No. 71-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs on the road and dropped a 4-1 South Regional decision indoors at McCarthy Gym.
Already this season,
Samford (3-4) has faced an arduous non-conference schedule and has competed against nationally-ranked foes No. 10 Georgia, No. 28 Auburn, No. 63 Wake Forest and No. 71
Mississippi State (7-1).
On Saturday, Samford will return home to Birmingham, Alabama, and square off against the Lamar Cardinals at noon (CST) in the Samford Tennis Center.
Samford's victories this season have come in dominant fashion against Kennesaw State, 7-0, UAB, 5-2, and Jacksonville State, 7-0. Mississippi State extended its winning streak to four-consecutive matches and has not been defeated since Jan. 25, when they suffered a 4-3 setback against No. 63 Dartmouth in their lone loss of the 2015 campaign.
Cold weather forced Thursday's contest to be played indoors at the two-court McCarthy Gym on the campus of Mississippi State University.
The teams played singles first and Mississippi State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with victories on courts No. 1 and No. 2.
In the next wave of matches, Samford fell behind 3-0 with a singles loss on court No. 3, but the Bulldogs'
Carita Moolman then upended Mississippi State's Louise Ronaldson, 6-3, 7-5, in the No. 4 matchup. With the win, Samford's Moolman improved to 4-0 on the season in singles play and trimmed MSU's lead to 3-1.
Moolman's victory extended the match to the third-and-final round of singles play Thursday as the No. 5 and No. 6 battles were begun.
On court No. 5, Mississippi State's Jennifer Brown was able to clinch the overall team victory with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Samford junior
Iva Parapunova as the final score moved to 4-1.
The Samford University women's tennis team will next be in action Saturday at noon (CST) as the Bulldogs return home to square off against the Lamar Cardinals in another non-league duel to be held at the Samford Tennis Center.
Box Score
Samford Stats
