May 13, 2011

Results

ATHENS, Ga. - The Samford University men's tennis team's 2011 season came to an end Friday as the Bulldogs were defeated by the sixth-ranked Georgia Bulldogs 4-0 in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament held at the venerable Dan Magill Tennis Center.

The season-ending loss snapped Samford's (19-7) five-match winning streak and finalized the Bulldogs' historic close to the 2011 campaign.

On April 10, Samford suffered a heartwrenching 4-3 Southern Conference loss at Appalachian State and fell to a 14-6 record on the season. Following that match, the Bulldogs swept a must-win conference road trip against Wofford and Furman, and then knocked off a trio of higher-seeded teams to earn the championship title of the SoCon Tournament.

Despite entering the SoCon Championship as the fifth-seeded team in the field, Samford registered lopsided victories against top-seeded Elon, second-seeded College of Charleston and fourth-seeded Appalachian State to secure their second bid to the NCAA Tournament in four years.

Samford closed out its 2011 campaign playing its best tennis of the season and cherished Friday's opportunity to compete against Georgia (21-5), the sixth-ranked team in the nation, at the historic Dan Magill Tennis Center.

In doubles play, Georgia tallied the opening point of Friday's match with wins on courts No. 2 and No. 3. UGA's 88th-ranked tandem of Sadio Doumbia and Ignacio Taboada defeated Samford's duo comprised of Zac Dunkle and Alexander Sajonz in the No. 2 matchup, 8-2, while Georgia's pairing of Wil Spencer and Drake Bernstein topped the Bulldogs' team of Carson Kadi and Fernando Costa 8-4 on court No. 3.

By taking the doubles point, Georgia earned an early 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven match held at the Magill Center.

Samford's tandem of Dunkle and Sajonz finished the 2011 season with a team-best 18-6 doubles record, while Kadi and Costa wrapped up the campaign with an 11-9 mark in dual-match play.

In the singles competition, Georgia's Hernus Pieters defeated Samford's Sajonz on court No. 6 to extend the Bulldogs' lead to 2-0. Despite his loss, Sajonz concluded the 2011 campaign with a stellar 16-7 singles record.

On court No. 1, Georgia's Spencer, the 18th-ranked singles player in the nation, topped Samford's Kadi 6-2, 6-1, while the Bulldogs' Bernstein clinched his team's 4-0 win with a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Oliver Reynolds on court No. 4. Reynolds, Samford's senior native of McDonough, Ga., concluded the year with a 19-6 overall singles record.

The Bulldogs' Kadi, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 2011 SoCon Tournament, finished the season with a 13-12 record in singles play.

With Friday's opening-round win, Georgia advanced to Saturday's Round of 32 where the Bulldogs will square off against 23rd-ranked and fellow Southeastern Conference-rival Auburn (16-9) at 2 p.m. (CDT).

Earlier Friday, Auburn defeated No. 39-ranked UNC Wilmington (21-5) by a score of 4-1 at the Dan Magill Tennis Center.

The Samford University men's tennis team concluded its 2011 season with a stellar 19-7 overall record and a 6-4 mark in SoCon play. The Bulldogs finished the regular season as the fifth-place team in the conference standings, but caught fire at the end of the year and rallied to win the 2011 SoCon Tournament.

En route to the championship title, Samford knocked off Appalachian State, Elon and College of Charleston in consecutive days at the prestigious SoCon Tournament. Elon was the top-seeded team in the four-day competition, while College of Charleston was the No. 2 seed and Appalachian State was the fourth-seeded squad in the 11-team event.

Samford, under the tutelage of Head Coach Kemper Baker, has advanced to the NCAA Tournament in two of the previous four seasons. In 2008, the Bulldogs won the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament and were sent to the Tallahassee Regional where they faced off against the Florida State Seminoles.

With its recent success, the future looks even brighter for the Samford men's tennis team. In 2012, the Bulldogs return four of their six singles starters, including Kadi and Dunkle at the all-important No. 1 and No. 2 positions, respectively. Samford will also boast an additional eight returning letterwinners to its talented roster in 2012.