April 19, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ---- The Samford men's and women's tennis teams will open play in the O'Reilly Ohio Valley Conference Tennis Tournament this weekend, April 20-22, at the Centennial Tennis Complex in Nashville, Tenn. The Samford women are trying for their third consecutive tournament championship and their second conference championship of the year while the Samford men seek their first OVC Championship ever.

The men will start play in the first round of the tournament at 10 a.m. on Friday morning as they face off with the Racers of Murray State. In the first meeting between the Bulldogs and the Racers on March 10, the Bulldogs dominated the match, winning 6-1.

The Samford men hope to make a repeat performance to get into the semi-finals of the tournament to face Jacksonville State in a rematch. The Gamecocks knocked the Bulldogs out of the running for the regular-season title as they handed the Samford men their first conference loss in Jacksonville on April 4.

The women received a bye to the semi-finals after sewing up the regular-season championship last Saturday with an undefeated record. The Bulldogs will play their first match of the tournament Saturday at 2 p.m. against the winner of Murray State/Jacksonville State. The Samford women are looking for their third tournament championship in four years.

Women's tennis coach Terri Sisk has been named the OVC's Coach of the Year. The Coach of the Year honor as well as all-conference teams and Players of the Year are voted on by the conference coaches.

Senior women's tennis player Emily White was selected to the all-conference first team while sophomore Whitnie Warren was named to the second team.

On the men's side, junior Renan Silveira and senior Stuart Misner were selected to the all-conference first team and junior Hank Grant was named to the second team.

Results from the Bulldogs' matches at the O'Reilly Ohio Valley Conference Tennis Tournament will be available on www.samfordsports.com upon the completion of each of Samford's matches.