Men's Tennis Suffers Hard-Fought Setback At ULL, 4-3

Monday, March 18

Lafayette, LA

3:00 PM

Samford University

Louisiana-Lafayette

Senior Alex Sajonz breezed to a 6-2, 7-5 victory over the Ragin’ Cajuns’ Hunter Johnson in the No. 4 singles matchup.

Men's Tennis Suffers Hard-Fought Setback At ULL, 4-3

3.18.13 | Men's Tennis

The Bulldogs fall to 1-4 when playing on the road this season

Final Results
Updated Samford Stats

LAFAYETTE, La. – The 61st-ranked Samford University men's tennis team had its three-match winning streak snapped Monday as the Bulldogs fell short in a 4-3 road decision against the resurgent Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns in a hard-fought nonconference contest held at the Cajun Courts.

"Today was a very competitive match,” said Samford head coach Rahim Esmail. “I am pleased with the way we competed today, regardless of the result. Most of all, I am pleased with the way we carried ourselves as a team, and the way we dealt with adversity.”

With the loss, Samford (7-5) suffered its first defeat of March and moved to 1-4 when playing away from home this season. The Bulldogs' previous setback was a 5-1 home loss to the sixth-ranked Kentucky Wildcats on Feb. 24.

Since then, Samford has tallied consecutive victories against College of Charleston, 6-1, Eastern Kentucky, 7-0 and UNCG, 4-3, before falling to Louisiana-Lafayette (9-8) on Monday.

The Ragin' Cajuns swept the doubles competition and then received three singles victories on courts No. 1, No. 5 and No. 2 to clinch the team win.

Samford received singles triumphs from Fares Kilani, Alex Sajonz and Garrison Laduca on Monday, but couldn't overcome Louisiana-Lafayette's early 4-0 advantage. Despite the Bulldogs' three singles victories, they fell short in a final 4-3 nonconference decision held in Lafayette.

Kilani, Samford's talented true freshman from Tunis, Tunisia, earned a hard-fought 7-6(5), 7-6(5) win on court No. 3, while Sajonz breezed to a 6-2, 7-5 victory over the Ragin' Cajuns' Hunter Johnson in the No. 4 singles matchup.

With their respective wins, Kilani improved his team-best record in singles play to 9-3 this season, while Sajonz moved to 6-6.

The Bulldogs' final singles victory occurred on court No. 6 where Laduca outlasted Louisiana-Lafayette's Hunter Goertz, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5). With his three-set triumph, Samford's Laduca improved to 5-6 in singles play this season and earned his third straight victory.

“I thought we carried ourselves with great character and integrity today,” Esmail said. “In my book, that is more important than anything else. I am pleased with this group of young men today, especially with the way they competed and the way they carried themselves. We are moving in the right direction and will take a lot of positives away from this match."

The Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Wednesday at 1 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs travel to New Orleans for a key South Regional contest versus the Tulane Green Wave to be held at the Goldring Tennis Center.

Final Results
Updated Samford Stats