March 30, 2012

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University men's tennis team will compete in its final home Southern Conference contest of the 2012 season Saturday as the Bulldogs welcome the Davidson Wildcats to the Samford Tennis Center for a key conference showdown slated to begin at 1 p.m. (CDT).

Samford (11-3, 5-1 SoCon) enters Saturday's match as the second-place team in the SoCon standings. The Bulldogs suffered their first loss in 49 days on March 23, as the Bulldogs were defeated on the road by the first-place College of Charleston, 4-3, in a hotly-contested duel held at the Patriots Point Tennis Complex.

With the hard-fought loss, Samford had its season-long, eight-match winning streak snapped. Prior to the defeat, the Bulldogs' most recent loss was a 4-2 home setback against Southern Miss on Feb. 11.

In Samford's SoCon battle with College of Charleston held at Patriots Point, the Bulldogs took an early 1-0 lead in the match by winning the doubles point.

Samford's tandem comprised of Zac Dunkle and Alexander Sajonz tallied an 8-6 triumph in the No. 1 doubles contest, while Fernando Costa and Carson Kadi notched an 8-5 victory over the Cougars' duo of Brice Allanic and Crescente Lesser on court No. 3.

With their win in the No. 3 doubles matchup, Samford's Costa and Kadi remained undefeated in SoCon play and improved to 11-3 on the season. They also notched their ninth-straight victory in dual-match play.

College of Charleston bounced back from its doubles loss by registering four wins in singles play to rally for the 4-3 team victory. After Samford's Elliot Barnwell defeated Kyle Parker on court No. 3, 6-2, 6-2, the Bulldogs held a 2-1 advantage in the match.

At that point, the Cougars reeled off consecutive singles wins on courts Nos. 4, 1 and 2 to take a decisive 4-2 lead. Samford's Sajonz closed out Friday's SoCon contest with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 triumph over Allanic on court No. 5.

With his victory, Sajonz extended his winning streak to four-consecutive matches and improved to 9-4 in singles play this season. The Bulldogs' Barnwell tallied his eighth-straight win Friday and improved his team-best record in dual-match play to 13-1.

Davidson (6-10, 2-4 SoCon) heads into Saturday's contest with aspirations of snapping a two-match losing streak. Since sweeping Winthrop, 7-0, in a non-conference matchup on March 24, the Wildcats have been defeated in back-to-back SoCon meetings with Appalachian State, 5-2, and Furman, 5-2.

Against Furman on Wednesday, Davidson closed out its four-match homestand with a 5-2 loss. The Paladins were able to sweep all three doubles matches and then went on to capture four of the six singles contests for the team win.

Scoring the Wildcats' two team points were Chris Mark and Calum Gee at No. 3 and 4 singles. Mark tallied his fifth win of the season with a solid 6-0, 6-4 victory.

Gee improved to 6-10 in dual-match play and own s a 4-2 SoCon mark by earning a three-set victory against Jacob Behal at No. 4. Davidson's senior took the first set, 7-6, but fell 5-7 in set two, forcing the final set. He battled and came out on top 6-4 for his second three-set win of the season.

The Wildcats' sophomore Connor Evins saw his personal-best win streak of seven in a row come to an end, but he battled to try and keep it alive. The sophomore played a three-setter at No. 6, falling 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 to Tyler Droll as he fell to 8-3 overall and suffered his first league defeat.

Evins' win streak was the longest since Gee rattled off nine straight during the 2010 campaign.

In last season's annual meeting between Samford and Davidson, the Bulldogs earned a critical 4-3 win as they battled to a key league triumph held indoors at the Knobloch Tennis Center.

Samford lost the doubles point, but rebounded with critical singles wins from Dunkle, Oliver Reynolds, Costa and Sajonz to rally for the team triumph.

Following Saturday's SoCon home finale against Davidson, the Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Friday at 3 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs begin a two-match conference road trip against the Elon Phoenix to be held at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.