April 8, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford men's tennis team will play two matches on Wednesday as it heads to Nashville, Tenn., to take on Ohio Valley Conference opponent Tennessee State at 1 p.m., before hosting Alabama at the Pat M. Courington Tennis Pavilion at 7 p.m.

Half of the Bulldog squad will make the trip to Tennessee State while the other half will stay in Birmingham ready to face the No 24-ranked Crimson Tide.

The Samford men come off a weekend in which they grabbed two more conference wins to extend their OVC winning streak to five. The Bulldogs downed both Eastern Illinois and Murray State by a score of 6-1 to move their overall record to 10-6. They are led by Hank Grant who currently owns a .667 winning percentage for the spring season and is 4-1 against conference opponents. Junior Brian Dushock (5-0 OVC) remains one of two Bulldogs, along with Carl Abalos (1-0 OVC), who are undefeated in conference play.

The Tennessee State Tigers are winless on the season, losing all eight of their regular-season matches, seven of them being conference matches.

The Alabama men (16-8, 6-4 SEC) are ranked No. 24 in the nation. Two Tide players are nationally ranked - Matthieu Thibaudeau at No. 98 (21-13) and Sabath Myneni at No. 120 (18-17). Thibaudeau and doubles partner Daniel Buikema are also ranked No. 12 in the nations Division I doubles teams. Alabama has won five of their last eight and ranked in the SEC West standing.

Samford's match with Alabama Wednesday night at 7 p.m. will be part of a Samford Athletics promotion. Free pizza will be given to fans as long as supplies last.