CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Citadel will play its first Southern Conference road match of the season on Wednesday afternoon, making the long trek to Birmingham, Ala., to take on Samford at 3 p.m.

The Bulldogs (4-9, 0-2 SoCon) dropped a pair of matches to Davidson and Chattanooga last weekend, but claimed their first doubles point against a Division I opponent since 2017 against the Wildcats on Saturday. Josiah Schainblatt and Sebastian Kamieniecki picked up the win at No. 2 doubles, and Leo du Plooy and Lucas Robins sealed the point with a victory at No. 3.

Against Chattanooga, both Will Graham and Hayden Shoemake forced an extra game in their opening sets in singles action, fighting hard despite falling in straight sets against the Mocs.

Samford enters Wednesday's bout with a 6-6 overall record; the match will serve as the SoCon opener for the Bulldogs. Samford had claimed three consecutive 7-0 sweeps against Tennessee State, Alabama A&M and Bellarmine prior to their most recent time out, a 5-2 loss at South Florida on March 13.

The Citadel and Samford have met 12 times in program history, with all 12 meetings coming since 2009. Samford has come away victorious in each meeting, but The Citadel took two points off the Bulldogs in the most recent meeting on March 8, 2020, prior to the pandemic bringing an early end to the 2020 campaign.
 
Following Wednesday's match, The Citadel will kick off a seven-match homestand at the Earle Tennis Center with a pair of matches this weekend, taking on Georgia Southern in non-conference action on Friday before welcoming in-state SoCon foe Furman on Saturday afternoon. The Bulldogs will be seeking their first win over the Eagles since 2010 and will be attempting to knock off Furman for the first time since 1989.