March 9, 2011

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University men's tennis team will begin play in its 2011 Southern Conference season Thursday at 1 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs welcome the UNC Greensboro Spartans to the Samford Tennis Center for a key conference showdown.

Samford (7-2, 0-0 SoCon) heads into the match with aspirations of bouncing back from a hard-fought 5-2 loss against Columbus State on Saturday. The Bulldogs' setback snapped a six-match winning streak and proved to be their lone defeat at home this season.

Heading into its loss to Columbus State, Samford had outscored its opponents in home matches by a total tally of 46-3. Already this year, the Bulldogs have earned victories against Alabama-Huntsville, Jacksonville State, UNC Asheville, Gadsden State, Belmont, North Alabama and UAB.

In singles play this season, Samford has outscored its opponents by a mark of 42-12. The Bulldogs boast six players with identical 6-2 singles records to lead the team this year. Samford's Carl Abalos, Fernando Costa, Zac Dunkle, Carson Kadi, Oliver Reynolds and Alexander Sajonz have all tallied 6-2 records in singles play this season.

The Bulldogs' doubles tandems comprised of Abalos and Reynolds, and Dunkle and Sajonz have all compiled similar 7-1 records in doubles play to lead the team this year.

UNC Greensboro (6-3, 1-0 SoCon) enters Thursday's match with aspirations of building on its positive momentum from back-to-back victories against Wofford and Longwood.

In the Terriers' dominant 5-2 win against Longwood on Tuesday, the Spartans earned the doubles point after winning it just once in their first seven contests. Freshmen Ahmet Sarioglu and Chanon Varapongsittikul grabbed an 8-2 win over Nobu Tanaka and Crescente Lesser at court No. 3 for UNC Greensboro's first win of the afternoon, while Jacob Wright and Yaroslav Litus picked up their fourth straight doubles win to clinch the point at court No. 2, 8-4.

On court No. 1, Longwood's Jimmy Davis and Marc Ferrigno bested Orcun Seyrek and Timion Meijs, 8-6.

Seyrek got things going quickly in singles play, blasting Tanaka 6-0, 6-0 at No. 1. Davis got the Lancers on the board with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Sarioglu at No. 4, and redshirt freshman Zach Reece gave UNC Greensboro a 3-1 lead with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Becker at No. 6.

The Spartans' Varapongsittikul clinched the match at No. 5, wrapping up a 7-5, 6-0 win over Barajas-Alexander. Ferrigno and Meijs staged quite the battle at No. 2, with Meijs winning the first set 7-5 before Ferrigno took the second 6-4. Ferrigno earned a 10-7 win in the tiebreaker to take the win.

UNC Greensboro's Litus and Lesser were last to finish, with Lesser claiming the first set 6-4 and Litus rallying for a 7-5 win in the second set. Litus then gutted out a 12-10 win in the tiebreaker, rattling off three straight points after Lesser picked up match point at 10-9.

Last season, Samford and UNC Greensboro squared off at the UNCG Tennis Courts and the Bulldogs suffered a 5-2 defeat against the Spartans.

In the loss, Samford's singles wins occurred on courts No. 3 and No. 4 as Kadi and Abalos both registered victories. Kadi, the Bulldogs' current junior from New Orleans, La., cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 triumph against UNC Greensboro's Jacob Wright in the No. 3 singles match, while Abalos outlasted Litus on court No. 4, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (5).

Following Thursday's SoCon duel against UNC Greensboro, the Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Saturday at 8 a.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs conclude their month-long, nine-match homestand against the Murray State Racers to be held at the Samford Tennis Center.