April 13, 2012

Results

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The Samford University men's tennis team rebounded from its hard-fought 4-3 non-conference loss to Alabama on Wednesday by posting a critical 5-2 road Southern Conference triumph against the Chattanooga Mocs Friday in a regular-season finale held at the UTC Tennis Courts.

"We are happy to finish off the season on a winning note," said Samford head coach Rahim Esmail. "Today was another tough battle, as Chattanooga is a very good team. We were able to get the doubles point which made a big difference going into the singles momentum-wise."

With the win, Samford (15-4, 9-1 SoCon) extended its conference winning streak to four-straight matches. Since suffering a nail-biting 4-3 road loss at first-place College of Charleston on March 23, the Bulldogs have reeled off consecutive SoCon victories against Davidson 5-2, Elon 4-3, UNCG 4-3 and Chattanooga (13-8, 4-6 SoCon) 5-2.

Samford has already closed out its regular-season schedule with a 9-1 conference record. The Bulldogs currently sit behind undefeated College of Charleston in second place, but the 8-0 Cougars have yet to play at Appalachian State and Davidson this weekend. With CofC losses in both matches, Samford would surpass the Cougars for the first-place position and claim the regular-season title.

In Friday's key victory at Chattanooga, Samford earned the doubles point by winning on courts Nos. 1 and 3. The Bulldogs' tandem of Zac Dunkle and Alexander Sajonz tallied an 8-4 victory in the No. 1 doubles contest, while Fernando Costa and Carson Kadi cruised to an 8-2 triumph over the Mocs' Stephen Crofford and Pavels Grigorjevs, 8-2, on court No. 3.

With their victory, Samford's tandem of Costa and Kadi improved their team-best doubles record to 15-4 this season.

The Bulldogs earned singles wins on courts Nos. 1, 3, 5 and 6 on Friday to secure their 5-2 team triumph over Chattanooga. The victory was clinched in the No. 1 singles contest as Samford's Dunkle earned a key 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 win over the Mocs' Roberto Vieira. Dunkle, the Bulldogs' talented native of Atlanta, Ga., improved his singles record to 12-7 on the season.

"We found ourselves in a third set at No. 1, No. 3 and No. 6, and we were able to win all three of those matches," Esmail said. "We did a great job today at staying tough and getting the job done late in the match. We are looking forward to a good week of practice heading into the weekend."

Samford's lone straight-set victory occurred at the No. 5 singles position Wednesday where Sajonz defeated Chattanooga's Jackson Tresnan, 6-3, 7-5, to move his dual-match record to 13-5 this year.

The two most critical singles victories for the Bulldogs came from Elliot Barnwell on court No. 3 and Garrison Laduca on court No. 6. In a pair of must-have three-set matches, Barnwell outlasted Chris Smith, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, while LaDuca tallied a dramatic 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5) triumph in the No. 6 singles contest.

With the victories, Barnwell improved to 17-2 on the season and LaDuca moved to 4-4 in dual-match play.

The Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action on April 20 as the Bulldogs begin play in the 2012 SoCon Tournament being held at the College of Charleston's Patriots Point Tennis Center located in Mt. Pleasant, S.C. Samford will receive a first-round bye in the 11-team tournament and its opponent and match time will be officially set at a later date.

Please return to SamfordSports.com, for more information.