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GREENVILLE, S.C. -- The regular-season champion and top-seed Samford University women's tennis team will begin play in the 2015 Southern Conference Tournament on Friday as the Bulldogs open the four-day, eight-team competition against the eighth-seeded Mercer Bears at 8 a.m. (CDT). The contest is slated to be held at the Mickel Tennis Center on the campus of Furman University.
 
Samford (13-8, 7-0 SoCon) rolls into the SoCon Tournament with a full head of steam after closing out its regular season with a three-match winning streak.
 
After coming up short at Troy on April 8, 4-3, the Bulldogs rattled off consecutive league victories against UNCG, 7-0, Western Carolina, 7-0, and Chattanooga, 7-0, to secure the SoCon regular-season title. The championship proved to be Samford's first of the school's SoCon Era.
 
The Bulldogs completed conference play with an unblemished 7-0 record and outscored their league foes by a total of 46-10. Samford's closest match in SoCon play proved to be a 4-3 home victory against ETSU on April 4.
 
In singles play this season, the Bulldogs have notched a 37-5 record against conference opponents. Samford has been equally dominant in doubles this year and boasts a 17-4 league mark.
 
SAMFORD HEADLINES ALL-SOCON HONORS
The Bulldogs' Stephanie N'tcha was named the 2015 SoCon Player of the Year on Wednesday as the league announced its postseason awards. N'tcha, one of the most decorated athletes in school history, earned First-Team All-SoCon honors for a second straight season and upped her career total to five league accolades.
 
N'tcha highlighted a number of postseason All-SoCon honors for Samford. The Bulldogs' David Vest was named the Coach of the Year, while Yasmeen Ebada, Carita Moolman, Jessica Northcutt and Savannah Wood all garnered league awards.
 
N'tcha finished the regular season with a 14-6 mark in singles play. Competing at No. 1 singles for the Bulldogs, she was a perfect 7-0 in conference matches and was twice named the league's Player of the Week. Paired with Moolman for most of the year at No. 1 doubles, N'tcha helped the Bulldogs' top tandem go 13-5, including a 6-1 mark in SoCon doubles matches.
 
N'tcha became the first Bulldog to be named the SoCon Player of the Year.
 
Vest was named the Coach of the Year by his peers after guiding the Bulldogs to a 13-8 record in the regular season. Samford went 7-0 in conference play to earn the top seed in this week's SoCon Tournament and its first regular-season championship since joining the league. Five of his players earned postseason awards this season.
 
Vest has constantly proven to be one of the top coaches in collegiate tennis. Throughout his 14-year career, the Bulldogs' head coach has earned six Coach of the Year honors, including being named the ITA's Southern Region Coach of the Year in 2014.
 
In addition to being named the ITA Southern Region Coach of the Year, Vest has been named the league's coach of the year five times (2015, 2010, 2008, 2005, 2002).
 
THE LAST TIME OUT
Samford earned its first SoCon regular-season title in school history Saturday as the Bulldogs battled to a hard-fought 7-0 road victory against the previous undefeated Chattanooga Mocs in a league championship match held at the UTC Tennis Courts.
 
Samford garnered the early momentum in the match by winning the doubles point and taking a 1-0 advantage over Chattanooga. The Mocs earned the first victory, 8-2, on court No. 3, but then Samford bounced back with triumphs of 8-2 and 8-6, respectively, on courts No. 2 and No. 1.
 
The Bulldogs' rally started in doubles play on court No. 1 as Samford's pairing of N'tcha and Moolman tallied an 8-6 victory over the Mocs' combination of Kayla Jones and Samantha Caswell, 8-6. With their win, they evened the doubles score at 1-1 and improved their record on the year to 14-5.
 
Samford clinched the doubles point on court No. 2 where the Bulldogs' pairing of Ebada and Northcutt finished the season with a perfect 7-0 league record by defeating Chattanooga's Kelsey Coots and Kaylene Chadwell, 8-2.
 
Despite battling in front of 160 raucous yellow and blue-clad fans, the Bulldogs continued their stellar play in the singles competition and ended up sweeping all six courts to close out their 7-0 league win.
 
In singles, Samford's Moolman and Wood both extended their identical winning streaks to eight-consecutive matches with straight-set victories.
 
Wood rolled to a 6-0, 6-2 triumph on court No. 6, while Moolman registered a 6-4, 6-2 win over Chattanooga's Caswell in the No. 4 singles contest. With their respective victories, Wood improved her dual-match record to 12-5 as Moolman upped her mark to 15-3.
 
Samford's Ebada and Northcutt also tallied straight-set wins in Saturday's singles contest to clinch the Bulldogs' victory and the SoCon regular-season title.
 
Ebada defeated the Mocs' Coots, 6-4, 6-1, to improve her dual-match record to 12-9, while Northcutt moved to 11-9 this season with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Chattanooga's Chadwell.
 
In the closest two singles matches of the day, Samford's N'tcha rallied back to defeat Jones on court No. 1, 3-6, 7-6 (7), 1-0 (5), and Iva Parapunova held off the Mocs' Claire Mulyadi on court No. 5. Mulyadi was forced to retire in the second set of action.
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Mercer (4-17, 0-6 SoCon) enters the SoCon Tournament with aspirations of snapping an 11-match losing streak. The Bears' four wins this season have come against Savannah State, 6-1, Alabama State, 4-3, Fort Valley State, 6-1, and Florida A&M, 4-3, in their most recent triumph held Feb. 28 in Tallahassee, Florida.
 
In SoCon play this season, Mercer finished winless at 0-6. The Bears' closest matches of the season came against Western Carolina, 4-3, and Wofford, 4-3.
 
Mercer's most recent contest occurred April 9 as the Bears fell to UNCG, 6-1, at the UNCG Tennis Courts.
 
After dropping her first set, Laura Kelly rallied and forced a tie-break to win 2-6, 6-4, 1-0 (10-7) at flight No. 6. Xandra Fougner also played a tie-break set, but fell 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (13-11) to Kayla Gammie. Grace Korta and Roxy Bartz picked up an 8-4 win at the No. 1 doubles spot.
 
IN THE FIRST MEETING
On April 1, Samford rolled to a dominant 6-1 road victory against Mercer in a key early-league contest held at the Leroy Peddy Tennis Center.
 
The Bulldogs breezed to an early 1-0 lead in the match by cruising to the doubles point. On court No. 1, Samford's combination of N'tcha and Moolman topped Mercer's Grace Korta and Roxy Bartz, 8-2, while the Bulldogs' No. 2 tandem of Ebada and Northcutt cruised to a similar 8-2 decision.
 
In the No. 3 doubles competition, Samford's pairing of Wood and AnnMarie Lyon registered a decisive 8-4 decision against the Bears' tandem of Laura Kelly and Liza Klyachkin.
 
Samford breezed to five, straight-set singles victories against Mercer. The Bulldogs' N'tcha, Ebada, Moolman, Iva Parapunova and Wood were all triumphant against their Bear counterparts as Samford tallied its 6-1 team win. Additionally, Samford's Wood notched a lopsided 6-2, 6-1 victory over Kelly on court No. 6.
 
2014 SOCON TOURNAMENT RESULTS
Last season, Samford advanced all the way to the championship match of the SoCon Tournament, but dropped a hard-fought 4-2 decision in the title contest to Elon. The Bulldogs opened the competition with back-to-back 4-0 victories against Appalachian State and Chattanooga at the postseason event held in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
 
In the 2014 championship match, Samford lost a tough decision in the doubles contest and could never recover in singles play as the Bulldogs dropped a heartbreaking 4-2 decision against Elon.
 
The Phoenix won the doubles point and then received singles victories from Frida Jansaker, Barbora Lazarova and Maria Camara Ruiz to earn the closely-contested 4-2 team win.
 
With Elon holding a 3-2 advantage, Samford's Ebada and Emily Mallory were battling their Phoenix counterparts on courts No. 3 and No. 5, respectively. Both Ebada and Mallory proved to be victorious in the first sets of their matches, while Elon charged back to take the second sets in each battle.
 
The Phoenix clinched its fourth point of the match on court No. 5 as Ruiz posted a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, win against Mallory to make the final score 4-2.
 
In singles play, Samford's victories came at No. 1 from N'tcha and at No. 6 from Lauren Caballero. N'tcha cruised past Elon's Jordan Johnston, 6-3, 6-2, in the No. 1 matchup to finish the season with an 18-4 singles record.
 
Samford's Caballero defeated the Phoenix's Tolley Rice, 6-3, 7-5, on court No. 6 to improve her dual-match record to 13-4 in 2014.
 
In the all-important doubles point, it all came down to the match on court No. 2 where Elon's combination of Jansaker and Ruiz held off a late rally from the Bulldogs' Ebada and Moolman, 8-7 (4).
 
Despite trailing 7-6 in the contest, Samford doubles tandem battled back to force the tiebreaker, but the Phoenix proved to be most error-free team in the matchup as they notched a 7-4 victory in the extra frame.
 
Early in doubles play, the Phoenix struck first with an 8-5 victory on court No. 1. The pressure then shifted to the Bulldogs' No. 3 tandem comprised of N'tcha and Northcutt, which notched a crucial 8-6 win over Elon's pairing of Taylor Casey and Bryn Khoury.
 
WIN AND ADVANCE
The winner of Friday's SoCon Tournament-opening contest between Samford and Mercer will advance to Saturday's semifinal round of action where the victor will face either fourth-seeded Furman or fifth-seeded UNCG at 9 a.m. (CDT). The match will be held at the Mickel Tennis Center on the campus of Furman University.

SoCon Tournament Bracket
Tournament Central
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