MIAMI SHORES, Fla. -- George Samuel has been studying his team with a careful eye these days. Actually, he's been doing it for 28 years. But particularly closely lately, the winningest coach in all of Buccaneer athletics has been monitoring his team.

It's a process of getting to know a new bunch, figuring out what works best for the confines of the season at hand, and then making decisions that best suit his team. He's done it well for nearly three decades. Three national champions, umpteen Coach of the Year awards, a slew of national tournament appearances and 13 Sunshine State Conference championships -- they're all part of the resume Samuel has built up at Buccaneer Tennis Center.

Trying to figure out where the Bucs fit in in the SSC landscape this year is where the focus is now, and it starts 11 a.m. Sunday when the second-ranked Bucs (3-0, 1-0 SSC) host No. 3 Lynn, 5-0, 1-0 entering Saturday's match versus Florida Atlantic. This is early for a match against Lynn, but that's welcoming to Samuel.

"I think it adds a little variety to the schedule for a change," he said. "This match early is a good way to see how we are this year."

Samuel knows this match is important. His players realize it, too. Lynn is a quality team with solid wins to start the season. This is a test Barry welcomes, but must prepare well for if the Bucs hope to come away with a victory on Homecoming weekend. At the same time, this isn't a be-all, end-all match for either team.

"Last year, I felt like we had to win," Samuel said. "Everybody that we played, I felt like we had to beat. We don't really have to defend anything at this point. Even if one of us does lose, it doesn't mean anything at this point. I don't feel like anybody is way above the field that's out there."

The Fighting Knights are 22-8 in singles and 11-4 in doubles. Florian Clemares is Lynn's lone unbeaten singles player at 5-0 at No. 3 singles. Lynn's No. 2 and No. 3 doubles teams of Kay Bartmann and Jose Porfino and Gabriel Hocevar and Tristan Houle are both 4-1 respectively.

The Buccaneers are 13-5 in singles and 7-2 in doubles. Flavio Matteoli, Vivien Versier, Blake Bayldon, Daniel Ventura and Martin Gutierrez are all unbeaten in singles play. Bayldon and Versier are 3-0 in doubles. Matteoli and Fernando Tous are 2-0 in doubles. In fact, the Bucs are unbeaten at the Nos. 2-3 pairs positions, regardless of combination -- and they've had four different ones at those two spots. Their only losses are at the top -- a focal point moving forward.

Sunday is the start of that process.

"I still think we have work to do," Samuel said. "We're far from ready in any fashion. This is just a building block match as far as I'm concerned."

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