Samford’s men’s tennis team has been making strides this season ranking 70th nationally as of March 24, but as high as 66th. Not only has the team been placing nationally, but they have also been winning many games under the leadership of Head Coach Oliver Reynolds.
Reynolds was a graduate from Samford’s tennis program, which he was a part of from 2007 to 2011. He returned in early 2021 as the coach for the men’s team and is now in his fifth overall season.
With his coaching, the team won their first Southern Conference (SoCon) title since 2013 in 2025. He has similar goals for this season.
“You know, our hope and goals are to win the conference. We won it last year. Tied for the regular season, first. Won the conference tournament. Great year,” said Reynolds.
The remainder of the season includes home matches against Furman on April 4 and Mercer on April 7. The SoCon tournament will take place in Chattanooga, TN on April 16-18.
“I think with leadership and just sort of the way, hopefully, we approach a lot of things, I hope we can do well. We’ve done really well in doubles this year. We’re 11-5 as a team and we’re 14-2 in doubles,” said Reynolds regarding how he sees them faring for the rest of the season based on the current scores.
One thing he emphasized that makes Samford’s tennis program, and the rest of the athletics program special, is the rest of the things that the school has to offer in terms of lifestyle/culture, academics, social aspects and the beauty of the campus.
“You’re in a great community. You’re surrounded by awesome neighborhoods. You’ve got great food. I’ve always said, you know, when you walk around Samford and what’s around us, it’s very easy on the eyes,” said Reynolds. “It’s not a bunch of straight roads and strip malls. It’s just there’s culture everywhere you go.”
The importance that Samford, the athletics department, and the team itself puts on academics is also high.
There is a requirement of a study hour until it is proven that you can balance academics and your sport. There is also a minimum GPA for Reynold’s team of 3.0 that the students must maintain. Reynolds said that communication and time management are the keys to keeping this balance.
Injuries were also something that the team faced this season.
“We’ve really hardly played with a fully healthy roster, almost this entire year. There’s maybe two or three matches this whole year where we played with a full roster and so we’re still dealing with some of that,” said Reynolds. “But I do think, with where we’ll be by the end of the season, our goal is to have everybody feeling like they can go out and give what they need by the time we get to the conference tournament. So, I still think we got a great shot to win every match we have left.”
Diversity is one of the key elements of the men’s team that Reynolds shoots for when establishing a roster.
“I’m a big fan of diversity and culture within my roster. You know, I try to always keep it about 50-50 between Americans and internationals,” said Reynolds. “Tennis is just such a heavily international sport. And so, it’s always allowed us to bring players in with different mindsets, different cultures.”
The tennis team overall is looking towards a good end of the season with hopes for another SoCon trophy to add to the growing collection.
Arts & Life Editor
