March 21, 2011

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University men's tennis team will conclude its brief two-match Southern Conference homestand Tuesday at 2 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs welcome the nationally-ranked Elon Phoenix to the Samford Tennis Center for a critical league showdown.

Samford (11-3, 1-1 SoCon) enters the contest riding the positive momentum of a four-match winning streak. Since falling short against UNC Greensboro on March 10, the Bulldogs have rattled off consecutive victories versus Murray State, Saint Leo, Florida Gulf Coast and The Citadel.

In Samford's 6-1 home triumph against The Citadel on Sunday, the Bulldogs swept the doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead in the contest. Samford's tandem comprised of Alexander Sajonz and Zac Dunkle improved to 12-1 in doubles play this season as they cruised to an 8-2 victory against the Cadets' pairing of Jeremiah Dye and Dillon Berkabile on court No. 2.

The Bulldogs were then triumphant in five of the six singles matches to earn its decisive conference victory. Samford's Dunkle, Carl Abalos, Oliver Reynolds, Fernando Costa and Sajonz and tallied straight-set wins. Abalos, Dunkle, Kadi and Reynolds all improved their singles records to 10-3 on the season, while Sajonz won his fourth straight match and moved to 10-2 in 2011.

Samford's Dunkle completed last week with an unblemished 4-0 record as the Bulldogs' sophomore from Atlanta, Ga., went 2-0 in both singles and doubles play.

In singles, Dunkle rattled off a pair of straight-set wins to improve his record on the season to 10-3. In the doubles competition, he paired with teammate Sajonz to register lopsided victories of 8-3 and 8-2, against their counterparts from Florida Gulf Coast and The Citadel.

Elon (8-5, 2-0 SoCon) heads into Tuesday's match as the 72nd-ranked team in the nation. The Phoenix has squared off against a trio of ranked opponents this season and notched a dominant 5-2 victory over No. 56 South Carolina on Jan. 16. Elon also nearly knocked off No. 75-ranked William & Mary 4-3 on Feb. 20.

The Phoenix is in the midst of a two-match winning streak. Since dropping a 6-1 contest against Radford on March 5, Elon has reeled off back-to-back SoCon victories at Davidson 4-3 and Chattanooga 4-3.

In Sunday's hard-fought win against Chattanooga, the Phoenix were triumphant in all three doubles matches before taking three of the first four singles contests to finish en route to the win.

Using a couple different doubles combinations, Elon's Alberto Rojas and Cody Stauffer-MacDowell earned their first win of the year with an 8-4 defeat of William Disterdick and Rick van de Bovenkamp on court No. 2.

Ranked 35th in the nation, Elon's top duo of Philip Nemec and Chase Helpingstine clinched the doubles point with an 8-5 result against Chris Smith and Roberto Vieira. The pair has won eight straight matches and is 9-1 on the season. On court three, Cameron Silverman and Eric Turner moved to 2-1 on the season, defeating Stephen Crofford and Jackson Tresnan 8-4.

Holding the 1-0 edge heading into singles play, Elon was quick to build on its lead with wins at courts No. 4 and 5. Rojas shut out van de Bovenkamp, 6-0, 6-0, at the No. 5 singles contest as the senior evened his record to 6-6 on the year.

With the score 3-0, Chattanooga finally got on the board as Crofford picked up a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Philip Meyer on court No. 6. The chance at a comeback was short-lived as Turner earned a straight-set win over Tresnan in the No. 2 singles contest to clinch the match for the Phoenix. Turner posted a 7-5, 6-3 victory.

Last year, Samford and Elon squared off in an early-season SoCon matchup and the Bulldogs suffered a 5-1 defeat in Elon, N.C. In the last meeting between the teams, the Phoenix won the doubles point and tallied singles victories on courts No. 1, No. 2, No. 5 and No. 6.

Samford's lone triumph occurred at the No. 4 singles position where sophomore Carson Kadi toppled Elon's Rojas 6-3, 2-6, 5-4. Rojas was forced to retire late in the third set after incurring an injury.

Following Tuesday's SoCon showdown with Elon, the Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Saturday at noon (CDT) as the Bulldogs begin a key two-match conference road trip against the Davidson Wildcats to be held in Davidson, N.C.