April 6, 2012

Results

ELON, N.C. - With the overall score of Friday's pivotal Southern Conference match knotted at 3-3, Samford men's tennis player Alexander Sajonz battled past the Elon Phoenix's Juan Madrid, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6(6), in the No. 5 singles contest to clinch a thrilling 4-3 victory held at The Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.

"Today was an extremely hard-fought match," said Samford head coach Rahim Esmail. "A lot of credit goes to the way Elon competed. We did not play our best tennis today but found a way to win, which we have to be extremely pleased about. The guys did the work and dug deep, and did what it took to win."

Samford (13-3, 7-1 SoCon) earned its second-straight win Friday and proved to be triumphant in 10 of its last 11 matches. Since Feb. 11, the Bulldogs have only been defeated once, in a hard-fought 4-3 decision on the road against first-place College of Charleston on March 23.

Since then, Samford has rallied for back-to-back conference victories over Davidson and Elon (8-13, 5-5 SoCon).

In Friday's nail-biting triumph over the Phoenix, Samford jumped out to an early 3-1 lead by winning the doubles point and then receiving singles victories from Fernando Costa and Elliot Barnwell. Costa, the Bulldogs' sophomore from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, earned his second-straight win by cruising past Elon's Andrew Prince, 6-1, 6-1, on court No. 4.

Samford's Barnwell gave his squad a 3-1 advantage by outlasting the Phoenix's Jordan Kaufman, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2, in the No. 3 singles contest. With his triumph, the Bulldogs' native of Mancetter, United Kingdom, improved his team-leading record in dual-match play to 14-2 this season.

Shortly after Barnwell's singles win gave Samford a 3-1 lead in Friday's match, Elon bounced back with consecutive victories on courts Nos. 6 and 2 to even the score at 3-3.

Once the Phoenix tied the match at 3-3, all eyes shifted to court No. 5 where Sajonz and Madrid were doing battle for the decisive singles point. Madrid won the first set 7-5, but the Bulldogs' native of Kungsbacka, Sweden, rallied back to take the second frame, 6-4. In the all-important third set, Samford's Sajonz fought to an epic 7-6(6) triumph to clinch the Bulldogs' critical 4-3 team win.

With the victory, Sajonz notched his team-leading sixth-straight triumph and improved to 11-4 in dual-match play this season.

"I am very pleased at the way we picked up our energy on certain courts today, in order to get the job done," Esmail said. "We scrapped out an ugly doubles point and were able to carry the momentum into singles play. Alex came up big today. He showed a lot of guts and never gave up. I'm very happy with this win. Elon is a very good team at their place. We are looking forward to getting after it again tomorrow."

The Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Saturday at noon (CDT) as the Bulldogs conclude their key weekend road trip against the UNCG Spartans to be held at the UNCG Tennis Complex in Greensboro, N.C.