Final Results
Updated Samford Stats
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University men's tennis team improved its record at home this season to a near-perfect 5-1 on Sunday as the No. 59-ranked Bulldogs breezed to a 7-0 victory against former Ohio Valley Conference-rival Eastern Kentucky in a nonconference matchup held at the Samford Tennis Center.
“Overall, I am pleased with our win today,” said Samford head coach
Rahim Esmail. “We got off to a great start in doubles and took care of business right from the start. Each week, we are getting better and better, and are continuously working on the things that we need to improve on each week.”
Samford (6-4) cruised to the doubles point Sunday with victories on courts No. 1 and No. 2. In the No. 1 doubles matchup, the Bulldogs' No. 36-ranked combination of
Zac Dunkle and
Garrison Laduca earned an 8-1 victory, while Samford's No. 2 duo comprised of
Elliot Barnwell and
Austin Akers defeated Eastern Kentucky's Daridge Saidi and Joao Maio, 8-2.
Already this season, the Bulldogs' doubles tandem of Dunkle and Laduca has compiled an unblemished 4-0 record on court No. 1. Samford's pairing of Barnwell and Akers improved its doubles record to 3-1 in dual-match play this year.
Eastern Kentucky (5-9) suffered its third straight defeat Sunday. Since defeating Pikeville, 7-0, on Feb. 23, the Colonels have dropped consecutive road contests at Liberty, 6-1, at Radford, 4-1, and at Samford, 7-0. Eastern Kentucky owns an 0-8 record when playing on the road this season.
“Eastern Kentucky is a good, young team and they will be a much better team in April than they were today,” Esmail said. “I am happy to get out of today with a convincing win over a solid team, and look forward to getting back to work this week in preparation for our upcoming matches.”
Samford swept all six singles matches Sunday. Against the Colonels, the Bulldogs' Dunkle, Barnwell,
Fares Kilani and Akers all won in straight sets.
Akers, Samford's sophomore native of Lexington, Ky., improved his team-best singles record on the season to 7-2. Kilani moved to 7-3 in dual-match play, with all of his victories coming at the No. 3 singles position.
The Bulldogs'
Alex Sajonz and Laduca both won Sunday in three-set matches. Sajonz, Samford's senior native of Kungsbacka, Sweden, defeated Eastern Kentucky's Lucas Smets, 6-3, 5-7, 1-0(7) on court No. 4, while Laduca rallied for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 triumph over the Colonels' Florian Graskamp in the No. 6 singles matchup.
The Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Thursday at 3 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs resume play in their SoCon schedule with a home match against the UNCG Spartans to be held at the Samford Tennis Center.
Admission is
FREE to all Samford home tennis matches.
Final Results
Updated Samford Stats
