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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The 59^th-ranked Samford men's tennis team will conclude its four-match, Southern Conference-opening homestand Wednesday at 3 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs welcome the undefeated UNCG Spartans to the Samford Tennis Center for a momentous midweek conference showdown.
 
Samford (6-4, 1-0 SoCon) enters the contest boasting a near-perfect 5-1 record at home this season. Already this year, the Bulldogs have defeated Austin Peay, 5-2, Jacksonville State, 4-0, Troy, 5-1, College of Charleston, 6-1, and Eastern Kentucky, 7-0, at the Samford Tennis Center.
 
The Bulldogs' only home loss this season came against No. 6-ranked Kentucky on Feb. 24.
 
On Sunday, Samford breezed to a 7-0 home victory over Eastern Kentucky. The Bulldogs cruised to the doubles point Sunday with victories on courts No. 1 and No. 2.
 
In the No. 1 doubles matchup, Samford's No. 36-ranked combination of Zac Dunkle and Garrison Laduca earned an 8-1 victory, while the Bulldogs' No. 2 duo comprised of Elliot Barnwell and Austin Akers defeated Eastern Kentucky's Daridge Saidi and Joao Maio, 8-2.
 
Already this season, Samford's doubles tandem of Dunkle and Laduca has compiled an unblemished 4-0 record on court No. 1. The Bulldogs' pairing of Barnwell and Akers improved its doubles record to 3-1 in dual-match play this year.
 
Samford swept all six singles matches versus Eastern Kentucky on 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.
 
UNCG (7-0, 2-0 SoCon) heads into Wednesday's showdown boasting an undefeated record this season. The Spartans are in the midst of a seven-match winning streak and have earned conference victories against The Citadel, 7-0, and Wofford, 6-1.
 
UNCG has only played one match on the road this season as the Spartans topped UNC Asheville, 6-1, in Asheville, N.C., on Feb. 24.
 
In its most recent outing Monday, UNCG defeated Texas-Pan American, 4-0, at the UNCG Tennis Courts. The Spartans won two of three doubles matches to take a 1-0 lead in the match against Texas-Pan American.
 
UNCG sophomore Randy Phillips and freshman William Albright won easily, 8-3, at the No. 3 doubles position against Thomas Panoulas and Victor Alves. 
 
At No. 2 doubles, sophomore Cameron Smith and freshman Gaston Murray lost to Ricardo Hopker and Chetan Panditi, 8-3. The all-important doubles point came down to court No. 1 where freshman Daniel Mack and junior Ahmet Sarioglu won a tight 8-6 match against Sebastien Job and Alejandro Sanoja.
 
In singles play, Mack won at No. 4 in an easy two sets against Sanoja, before Phillips took down Panditi at No. 3, 6-3, 6-3. At No. 6, Albright clinched the match when he beat Alves, 6-3, 6-2.
 
Last season, Samford squared off against UNCG on the road and rallied for a critical 4-3 victory in Greensboro, N.C. The Bulldogs won the doubles point and then received singles triumphs on courts Nos. 3, 5 and 6.
 
Samford played well at the bottom of the singles lineup as Sajonz and LaDuca both won their matches on courts No. 5 and 6, respectively. Sajonz defeated UNCG's Cameron Smith in straight sets, 6-4, 6-0, in the No. 5 singles contest.
 
LaDuca, the Bulldogs' highly-touted sophomore from Woodstock, Ga., earned a key three-set victory by outlasting the Spartans' Jimmy Roueche, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, on court No. 6. With the win, Samford picked up its third team point of the SoCon contest.
 
With the overall score of the match knotted at 3-3, the final point of last season's duel came down to the No. 3 singles contest where Samford's Barnwell squared off against UNCG's C. Varapongsittikul. The counterparts split the opening two sets with 6-0 sides from each competitor. Varapongsittikul took the first frame, while Barnwell rebounded to win the second set.
 
In the decisive third frame, the Bulldogs' Barnwell faced match point before bouncing back to notch a thrilling 7-6(1) victory. With the win, Samford's native of Mancetter, United Kingdom, secured the Bulldogs' key 4-3 SoCon triumph over UNCG.
 
Following Wednesday's key SoCon matchup against UNCG, the Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Monday at 3 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs begin play in a two-match, spring break road trip versus the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns to be held in Lafayette, La.
 
Admission is FREE to all Samford home tennis matches.

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