March 12, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford men's and women's tennis teams will host Ohio Valley Conference and in-state rival Jacksonville State in the second conference match of the season on Thursday. Both teams began the OVC season with wins Saturday over UT Martin and hope to start a streak Thursday with another win over the Gamecocks.

In a non-conference meeting between the Bulldogs and the Gamecocks last month, the Samford men and women were victorious over their rivals with the men winning, 4-3, and the women winning 6-1. The Bulldogs hope to make it a clean sweep of the Gamecocks Thursday, adding another win to their schedules.

The Jacksonville State men (4-3, 1-0 OVC) were picked to win the conference this again this season. The defending champs face a tough Bulldog team (4-4, 1-0 OVC) who are out to prove that they are better than second place. Four of the OVC top 10 players come from the Bulldog and Gamecock squads. Seniors Jordan Delass (#1) and Renan Silveira (#9) represent Samford while junior Scott Robertson and sophomore Eduardo Saratt represent Jacksonville State.

The Samford women (7-2, 1-0 OVC) were picked to repeat as OVC champions and have made quite a dent in their schedule so far. The Bulldogs have won seven of nine matches played and the roster is made up of mostly freshman. The senior leaders for the Bulldogs have made their way onto the league's top 10 players as well. Anna Jackson ranks fourth while Katie Weaver ranks eighth.

The Gamecock women are 4-5, 1-0 in OVC play and own this week's OVC Co-Player of the Week in Martina Dessbesell. Dessbesell went 2-0 at the No. 2 singles position last week while almost sweeping Alabama State's Agnes Lindsey on Friday to help her team to a 7-0 win. The freshman is 5-4 on the season at the No. 2 position and is ranked ninth in this year's OVC preseason rankings.

Match between the rivals is set for Thursday afternoon. The men will kick things off at 2 p.m. at the Pat M. Courington Center on the west side of campus with the women immediately following at around 5 p.m. A full recap and results will be posted for each match on www.samfordsports.com.