April 13, 2008

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. ---- The Samford men's tennis team just missed its first regular-season Ohio Valley Conference title Sunday as they fell short at Tennessee Tech, 4-3. The Bulldogs' perfect season came to a halt as the Golden Eagles handed Samford its first conference loss after it had won eight consecutive matches in league play.

The match was a battle for first place in the OVC standings. Both teams went into Sunday's match-up undefeated which meant only one would remain that way after this meeting. The win earned Tennessee Tech the regular-season championship while the Bulldogs are runners-up yet again.

Samford started things on a good note when Hank Grant and Sam Huffman won, 8-3, at the No. 1 doubles court, but Tennessee Tech came roaring back to win at both the No. 2 and No. 3 spots to take the doubles point. Then, it was a back-and-forth battle of singles as one Bulldog would win at one court and a Golden Eagle at the next.

No. 1 player Renan Silveira fell to TTU's Borja Zarco in three hard-fought sets, taking him to a tie-break in the second set. Jordan Delass then grabbed Samford first singles win at the No. 2 court while TTU's Dean O'Brian won at the No. 3 court. Grant won at the No. 4 position while Huffman fell at No. 5 and Oliver Reynolds grabbed another win for Samford at the No. 6 spot, but the Bulldogs still fell short.

The Bulldogs will next play in the OVC Tennis Tournament this week, April 18-20, which will be held in Nashville, Tenn. Matches will be played at Tennessee State and Belmont, with the final match being held at Tennessee State. Samford receives a bye to the semifinals as a number two seed, so the Bulldogs' first match will be Saturday afternoon. Check www.samfordsports.com later this week for a final tournament bracket.

Tennessee Tech 4, Samford 3

Doubles
1. Grant/Huffman (SAM) def. O'Brian/Vaglietti (TTU), 8-3
2. Zarco/Gilioli (TTU) def. Delass/Walsh (SAM), 9-8 (7-4)
3. Crawford/Harris (TTU) def. Silveira/Dewet (SAM), 8-6

Singles
1. Borja Zarco (TTU) def. Renan Silveira (SAM), 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-2
2. Jordan Delass (SAM) def. Tiago Gilioli (TTU), 6-4, 6-2
3. Dean O'Brian (TTU) def. Brian Dushock (SAM), 6-1, 7-5
4. Hank Grant (SAM) def. Giovanni Vaglietti (TTU), 6-4, 6-3
5. Juan Pablo Gomez (TTU) def. Sam Huffman (SAM), 6-3, 6-3
6. Oliver Reynolds (SAM) def. Mario Guiterrez (TTU), 6-4, 7-5