BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University men's tennis team will face its third straight in-state opponent Friday as the Bulldogs travel to the Southside to square off against intra-city rival UAB at 2:30 p.m. (CST) at George Ward Park.
 
Samford (3-1) enters the contest in the midst of a two-match winning streak following back-to-back victories against No. 45-ranked Alabama and Jacksonville State. On Feb. 6, the Bulldogs made history by defeating Alabama for the first time since 1961. With the victory, Samford also registered its first triumph against a top-50 opponent in school history.
 
On Wednesday, the Bulldogs played host to Jacksonville State and blanked the Gamecocks, 4-0, in a contest held indoors at the Samford Tennis Center.
 
Against Jacksonville State, the teams started with the singles competition as the Bulldogs picked up straight-set victories from Zac Dunkle, 6-2, 7-5, Fares Kilani, 6-0, 6-1, and Alex Sajonz, 6-1, 6-3. Samford jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead Wednesday and then received the clinching win on court No. 2 as Elliot Barnwell topped the Gamecocks' Igor Santos in three sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
 
Dunkle, who competed at the No. 1 singles spot, improved his record on the season to 3-1, while Kilani did the same at the No. 3 singles position.
 
UAB (2-6) heads into Wednesday's contest with aspirations of snapping a five-match losing streak. Following a home win versus Florida Gulf Coast on Jan. 23, the Blazers have dropped consecutive matches against No. 55 Arkansas, 4-3, No. 21 Auburn, 6-1, No. 45 Alabama, 5-2, No. 43 Middle Tennessee, 6-1, and Yale, 4-3.
 
In Saturday's hard-fought loss to Yale, UAB dropped four of six singles matches as the Bulldogs rallied for a 4-3 victory at the Nashboro Village indoor facility. Zachary Dean's 7-6 (6), 7-5 win over UAB's Luiz Felipe Pinto at No. 6 proved to be the clincher as the two teams had played evenly up until the deciding match.
 
The Blazers grabbed a 1-0 lead with wins at No. 1 and 3 doubles. Tom Puetz and David Zimmerman downed Yale's Daniel Hoffman and Marc Powers by an 8-6 score at No. 1 spot while Pinto and Rafael Rondino teamed at No. 3 to defeated Dean Matt Saiontz, 8-4.
 
Yale won at the top three singles positions Saturday. Huang defeated UAB's Zimmerman at No. 1 singles, 6-2, 6-3, while Powers was a 7-6 (4), 6-4 winner at No. 2 singles over Puetz. Yale also got a win at the No. 3 singles position as Hoffman got past Rondino, 6-3, 6-3.
 
The Blazers posted their only two singles wins at the No. 4 and 5 spots. Helliar downed Jason Brown, 7-5, 6-3, at No. 4 with Dirube beating Zachary Krumholz, 7-5, 6-2, at the No. 5 spot.
 
Last season, Samford and UAB squared off at the Samford Tennis Center and the Blazers squeaked out a 4-3 nonconference victory.
 
In the 2012 dual match, UAB took an early 1-0 lead by sweeping the doubles point. In singles play, the Bulldogs received victories from Dunkle, Barnwell and Fernando Costa.
 
Dunkle's win occurred on court No. 2 as he battled past UAB's Zimmerman, 7-6(4), 6-3. Samford's Barnwell then increased his winning streak to four straight matches with a 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 triumph over the Blazers' Helliar in the No. 3 singles contest.
 
The Bulldogs' third singles victory came at court No. 4 as Costa cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 win against UAB's Dirube.
 
The clinching singles match occurred on court No. 6 last season. With the overall score tied at 3-3, all attention shifted to the epic battle between Samford's Ryan Shidler and UAB's Puetz. Already six hours into the cross-town rivalry contest, Puetz tallied the first set 6-3, but then Shidler fought back for a 6-2 triumph in the second frame.
 
In the third and final set of the night, Puetz rallied for a 6-4 win to give the Blazers their 4-3 victory.
 
Following Friday's cross-town rivalry match at UAB, the Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Feb. 21 at 2 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs return home to the Samford Tennis Center for another key in-state duel, this time against the Troy Trojans.