Final Results
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University men's tennis team opened its 2013 dual-match season with a key nonconference victory Saturday as the Bulldogs outlasted the scrappy Austin Peay Governors, 5-2, in a hard-fought battle held at the Samford Tennis Center.
“Overall, we did a great job today,” said Samford head coach
Rahim Esmail. “There are a lot of things that I was very pleased with. I think Austin Peay will be one of the favorites to win the OVC (Ohio Valley Conference) this year, as they won the regular season last year, and this was a great way to start the season with a quality win over a very solid team. I give Austin Peay a lot of credit. They did not go away on any of the courts and made us earn each of the five wins that we had.”
In doubles play
, Samford (1-0) rallied for a pair of 8-7 (5) victories on courts Nos. 2 and 3 to streak to an early 1-0 lead in the match.
After losing the first of the three doubles contests Saturday, the Bulldogs' tandem of
Elliot Barnwell and
Garrison Laduca, as well as Samford's combination of
Fares Kilani and
Austin Akers came up with huge 8-7 (5) triumphs over their
Austin Peay (0-1) competitors. By hanging on to win on courts Nos. 2 and 3, the Bulldogs took a critical 1-0 early advantage in the overall team match.
Samford then quickly increased its lead to 3-0 with straight-set singles wins from freshmen Akers and Kilani. Akers cruised past the Governors' Iago Seffrin on court No. 5, 6-2, 6-0, while Kilani knocked off Austin Peay's Dimitar Ristovski, 6-3, 6-4, in the No. 3 singles contest.
“Our freshmen, Fares and Austin, did a great job today, Esmail said. “They played extremely disciplined tennis and played with great composure. I was very impressed with the way they played in their first college match and was also impressed with the confidence and positive energy that they displayed.”
Austin Peay mounted a late comeback in singles with victories on courts Nos. 2 and 4 from Jasmin Ademovic and Aleksas Tverijonas. Ademovic tallied a 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 triumph in the No. 2 singles match, while Tverijonas posted a 7-5, 6-2 win court No. 4.
“We do need to focus on putting matches (teams) away when we have the opportunity,” said Esmail. “On several courts, we let players back into the match at some point and we cannot afford to do this against the quality of opponents that we will be competing against this season. We were fortunate enough to squeeze out the doubles point, which gave us some positive momentum heading into singles. We are looking forward to getting a good week of practice in, and getting after it again next weekend.”
Samford's final singles victories of the match came from Dunkle on court No. 1 and Laduca on court No. 6.
Dunkle, the Bulldogs' highly-decorated All-Southern Conference performer from Atlanta, Ga., battled back to defeat Austin Peay's Sean Bailey, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, in the No. 1 singles contest, while Laduca also came from behind to win a three-set match over John Storie, 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (7), on court No. 6.
The Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Feb. 3 at 1 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs travel to Atlanta, Ga., for a key nonconference matchup against the Georgia State Panthers.
Final Results
