Samford Media Guide
STARKVILLE, MISS. – The Samford University men's tennis team will face its second nationally-ranked Southeastern Conference opponent of the 2013 dual-match season Saturday at 11 a.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs square off against the 11
th-ranked Mississippi State Bulldogs in a highly-anticipated contest to be held at the A.J. Pitts Tennis Centre.
Earlier this season,
Samford (4-2) posted a historic 4-3 road victory at No. 45-ranked Alabama. In the Bulldogs' momentous triumph held Feb. 6 in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Samford ended a 31-match losing streak against the Crimson Tide, dating all the way back to May 5, 1961, when the school was named Howard College. Therefore, it was the Bulldogs' first win over the Crimson Tide in nearly 52 years.
On Sunday, Samford will continue its string of matches against nationally-ranked opponents as the Bulldog play host to the No. 7-ranked Kentucky Wildcats at 10 a.m. (CST) at the state-of-the-art Samford Tennis Complex.
Samford heads into Saturday's match with a full head of steam after earning a dominant 5-1 victory over Troy on Thursday. At home at the Samford Tennis Center, the Bulldogs swept the doubles competition and then added four singles victories from
Elliot Barnwell,
Fares Kilani,
Austin Akers and
Alex Sajonz to record the 5-1 in-state triumph.
The Bulldogs' singles victories from Barnwell, Akers and Sajonz were all tallied in straight sets. Kilani, Samford's talented true freshman from Tunis, Tunisia, outlasted Troy's Daniel Bustamante on court No. 3, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.
Mississippi State (8-2) enters its home contest against Samford with hopes of bouncing back from a tough-luck 4-2 loss against arch-rival Ole Miss at the ITA National Indoor Championships on Sunday. The loss snapped the Bulldogs' four-match winning streak against their in-state foes.
Following Saturday's showdown against No. 11-ranked Mississippi State, the Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Sunday at 10 a.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs play host to the seventh-ranked Kentucky Wildcats in a historic home contest to be held at the Samford Tennis Center.
Kentucky (10-2) is coming off a thrilling 4-2 come-from-behind victory against No. 6 Georgia on Sunday in the final day of action at the prestigious ITA National Indoor Championships inside the Nordstrom Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Washington in Seattle, Wash.
Samford Media Guide
