CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The third-seeded Samford women's tennis team will open play in the 2018 Southern Conference Tournament by taking on sixth-seeded Western Carolina Friday afternoon at 2 p.m. (CT) at the Champions Club.
 
The winner of the Samford-Western Carolina match will take on the ETSU-Wofford winner in the semifinals Saturday at 1 p.m. (CT). The championship match is set for Sunday at 12 p.m. (CT). The winner of the tournament earns the SoCon's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
Samford closed out its regular season with a record of 12-9 overall and 5-2 in Southern Conference play. Last week, the Bulldogs earned a 5-2 win at Wofford Friday, and then fell at regular-season champion Furman, 5-2, Saturday to end the regular season.
 
Western Carolina posted a record of 9-9 overall and 2-5 in league matches. The Catamounts are coming off a 5-2 loss to Mercer last Friday.
 
Earlier this week, Samford head coach David Vest was named the SoCon's Coach of the Year, when the league released its postseason honors. Senior Roos van der Zwaan was named first-team All-SoCon in singles, while van der Zwaan and fellow senior Ellie Gerlach were named first-team All-SoCon in doubles.
 
Sophomore Grace Jennings earned second-team All-SoCon honors in singles. Sophomore Elsa Pool earned the SoCon's Sportsmanship Award as well.
 
Samford and Western Carolina played once in the regular season. The Bulldogs earned a 5-2 win in the match played March 30 in Birmingham.
 
Live stats for every match in the SoCon Tournament are available at the following link: LIVE STATS. A full recap and results will be posted to www.samfordsports.com following the completion of each of Samford's matches in the tournament.