Box Score
Samford Stats

TROY, Ala. -- The Samford University women's tennis team suffered its first defeat in nearly four weeks Wednesday as the Bulldogs dropped a hard-fought 4-3 decision against the Troy Trojans in an in-state, South Regional duel held at the Lunsford Tennis Complex.
 
With the heartbreaking loss, Samford (10-8) had its five-match winning streak come to an end as the Bulldogs felt defeat for the first time since March 14. After losing at home to Tulane, 4-1, Samford rattled off five-consecutive victories against UMass, 4-3, Furman, 5-2, Wofford, 7-0, Mercer, 6-1, and ETSU, 4-3.
 
Troy (9-8) tallied Wednesday's match-clinching win at the No. 3 singles position as the Trojans' Jiayuan Xue outlasted the Bulldogs' Jessica Northcutt in a three-set marathon, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. Xue's victory broke a 3-3 draw in the team contest.
 
Playing in front of a rambunctious home crowd, Troy jumped out to an early 2-0 lead by winning the doubles point and then taking a victory in the No. 1 singles match.
 
Despite its initial deficit, Samford never lost faith and rebounded with straight-set singles triumphs from Carita Moolman on court No. 4 and Yasmeen Ebada at No. 2.
 
Moolman, the Bulldogs' talented junior from Aranos, Namibia, extended her winning streak to five-consecutive matches by breezing to a 6-4, 6-2 victory over the Trojans' Margot De Haan. With the win, Moolman trimmed Troy's deficit to 2-1 and improved her dual-match record to 12-3 on the season.
 
After a Trojans' win on court No. 5, Samford's Ebada defeated Sanae Ohta in the No. 2 singles matchup, 6-4, 6-2, to make the overall score of the contest 3-2. Additionally, the Bulldogs' talented senior from Cairo, Egypt, upped her singles record on the season to 9-9.
 
With Troy needing just one more singles win to claim Wednesday's dual-match victory, Samford's Savannah Wood came through under pressure by earning a thrilling 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 come-from-behind triumph against the Trojans' Brooke Durden in the No. 6 singles matchup. Wood improved to 10-5 with the victory and extended her singles winning streak to six-consecutive matches.
 
Wood's triumph set up the final contest on court No. 3 where Troy's Xue was able to hold off the Bulldogs' Northcutt in the decisive win.
 
The Samford University women's tennis team will next be in action Saturday at 11 a.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs return to Southern Conference play and travel to UNCG for a key road test against the Spartans to be held at the UNCG Tennis Courts located in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Box Score
Samford Stats