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April 18, 2012
Men's Tennis Team Wins SoCon Championship
The Samford University men's tennis team officially claimed its first Southern Conference regular-season title in school history Sunday as the Bulldogs closed out conference play with a near-perfect 9-1 record against league opponents.
"Finishing the regular season as co-regular season champions is a great achievement, as our conference is extremely competitive," said Samford head coach Rahim Esmail (shown left). "We are happy with this achievement, yet our sights are set on next week's SoCon Tournament."
Samford (15-4, 9-1 SoCon) will share a portion of its regular-season title with College of Charleston (15-4, 9-1 SoCon), which also finished with a 9-1 conference mark.
With College of Charleston's 5-2 road victory at Davidson on Sunday, the teams officially concluded the season tied for the league's top spot. Samford closed out its regular-season schedule Friday with a 5-2 victory over Chattanooga. If College of Charleston would have been defeated at Davidson on Sunday, the Bulldogs would have earned sole possession of the regular-season championship.
Earlier this year, College of Charleston earned a 4-3 victory over Samford in Charleston, S.C. With their head-to-head win, the Cougars will head into Thursday's SoCon Tournament as the No. 1 seed of the 11-team competition.
"The team has done a great job so far this season, working hard for everything that they have earned," Esmail said. "Everyone has improved tremendously during the past six months and we are looking forward to continuing to put this hard work to use this week at the conference tournament.
The Bulldogs will head into this week's SoCon Tournament as the No. 2 seed in the field and will earn a first-round bye Thursday. Samford's first action will be Friday at noon (CDT) as the Bulldogs face either seventh-seeded Wofford or 10th-seeded Georgia Southern in the quarterfinal round of play being held at College of Charleston's Patriots Point Tennis Center located in Mt. Pleasant, S.C.
