Feb. 10, 2012

Results

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the 2012 dual-match season Friday as the Bulldogs were outlasted by the UAB Blazers, 4-3, in a grueling six-hour, intra-city contest held at the Samford Tennis Center.

"I am just as proud of this team as I have been the last few matches, even though we came up a little short today," said Samford head coach Rahim Esmail. "Our guys showed tremendous desire and heart. UAB is a very talented team, and played a great match. They deserve a lot of credit. We are doing a lot of good things out there, and we can take many positives away from this match."

With the defeat, Samford (3-1) had its season-opening, three-match winning streak snapped. Prior to Friday's meeting with UAB (4-1), the Bulldogs reeled off consecutive non-conference victories against Lipscomb 4-3, USC Upstate 5-2 and Troy, 4-3.

Samford will compete in its third match in three days Saturday as the Bulldogs play host to their second straight Conference USA foe in Southern Miss at 11 a.m. (CST).

UAB opened Friday's match against Samford with a 1-0 lead by sweeping the doubles point. In singles play, the Bulldogs received victories from Zac Dunkle, Elliot Barnwell and Fernando Costa.

Dunkle's win occurred on court No. 2 as he battled past UAB's David Zimmerman, 7-6(4), 6-3. Samford's Barnwell then increased his winning streak to four straight matches with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 triumph over the Blazers' Chris Helliar in the No. 3 singles contest.

The Bulldogs' third singles victory came at court No. 4 as sophomore Fernando Costa cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win against UAB's Lucas Dirube.

With his straight-set triumph Friday, Costa improved to 4-0 in singles play. Dunkle also remained undefeated on the season with a similar 4-0 record.

The clinching singles match occurred on court No. 6 Friday. With the overall score tied at 3-3, all attention shifted to the epic battle between Samford's Ryan Shidler and UAB's Tom Puetz. Already six hours into the cross-town rivalry contest, Puetz tallied the first set 6-3, but then Shidler fought back for a 6-2 triumph in the second frame.

In the third and final set of the night, Puetz rallied for a 6-4 win to give the Blazers their 4-3 victory.

The Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Saturday at 11 a.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs conclude their arduous three-day stretch with a home contest against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles to be held at the Samford Tennis Center.