Feb. 26, 2012

Results

RICHMOND, Ky. - The Samford University men's tennis team extended its winning streak to three-consecutive matches Sunday as the Bulldogs tallied a dominant 7-0 victory against the Morehead State Eagles in a non-conference neutral contest held at the Greg Adams Tennis Center.

"The guys did a great job today," said Samford head coach Rahim Esmail. "During all of our previous matches, we found ourselves playing very up and down during certain times of the match, and today was the first day that the guys kept a consistent, solid level across the board for the entire match. I was very pleased with this, as it was something we wanted to work on today. Morehead State has a good team and handled themselves very respectfully on court."

With the win, Samford (6-2) improved to 4-0 when playing away from home this season and completed its weekend road swing with a perfect 2-0 record. On Saturday, the Bulldogs defeated Eastern Kentucky 5-2 and snapped the Colonels' 38-match home winning streak, which dated back to Feb. 7, 2009.

In Sunday's victory over Morehead State (6-4), Samford won the doubles point by earning victories on court No. 1 and court No. 3. On court No. 1, the Bulldogs' Zac Dunkle and Alexander Sajonz tallied an 8-2 triumph over the Eagles' tandem of Seve Day and Kevin Deligny, while Samford's duo of Fernando Costa and Carson Kadi cruised to a similar 8-2 victory in the No. 3 doubles contest.

After earning the doubles point to take an early 1-0 lead, the Bulldogs then received quick straight-set singles wins from Dunkle, Kadi, Elliot Barnwell, Costa and Sajonz. Samford's Ryan Shilder closed out the lopsided 7-0 victory with a 6-1, 3-6, 10-8 triumph on court No. 6.

The Bulldogs' Barnwell and Costa both improved their singles record to 7-1 on Sunday. Barnwell, Samford's sophomore native of Mancetter, United Kingdom, tallied a 6-0, 7-5 win on court No. 3, while Costa breezed past Day, 6-1, 6-3, in the No. 4 singles matchup.

Dunkle, the Bulldogs' junior from Atlanta, Ga., defeated the Eagles' David Clifford, 6-1, 6-1, on court No. 1 to improve to 6-2 this season.

The Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action March 10 at 10 a.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin play in their 2012 Southern Conference schedule with a home match against the Wofford Terriers to be held at the Samford Tennis Center.