UNC Greensboro 6, Samford 1

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford women’s tennis team’s three-match winning streak against Southern Conference opponents was snapped Sunday at the Samford Tennis Center, as the Bulldogs dropped a 6-1 decision versus the UNC Greensboro Spartans in Samford’s 2009 home finale.

With the loss, Samford (7-10, 4-4 SoCon) concluded its home schedule with a 5-7 record. The Bulldogs will close out their regular season next weekend with a pair of critical SoCon road matches against both College of Charleston and Georgia Southern.

Samford will head into its final weekend of play as the sixth-place team in the conference standings.

Entering Sunday’s contest, the Bulldogs were coming off consecutive conference victories over Chattanooga 5-2, Appalachian State 5-2 and Western Carolina 5-2.

In Sunday’s 6-1 triumph, UNC Greensboro (13-5, 7-2 SoCon) earned the doubles point and then picked up singles wins on courts No. 1, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6. The Spartans’ lone defeat occurred in the No. 2 singles contest where the Bulldogs’ red-hot Andrie Meiring tallied a 6-4, 6-3 victory against Valerie Behr.

Meiring, Samford’s sophomore native of Stellenbosch, South Africa, won her fifth-consecutive singles match and improved her team-best record on the season to 11-6.

The Bulldogs were again forced to compete in Sunday’s match with only five healthy players, therefore Samford had to default in both the No. 3 doubles competition and the No. 6 singles match. The Bulldogs suffered a pair of early-season injuries and have played the last 12 contests of the year with only five healthy competitors.