Samford Media Guide

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – In a rematch of the 2012 Southern Conference Tournament championship, the 64^th-ranked Samford University men's tennis team will square off against its arch-rival, the College of Charleston Cougars, at 1 p.m. (CST) Sunday in a key conference-opening contest to be held at the Samford Tennis Center.
 
Samford (4-4), which recently earned its highest national ranking in school history Wednesday, is coming off a 5-1 home decision against No. 6-ranked Kentucky on Feb. 24. Against the Bulldogs' highest-ranked opponent to ever play at the Samford Tennis Center, the teams agreed not to hold the doubles competition and focus solely on the six singles matches.
 
The Wildcats were victorious on five of the six singles courts, but the Bulldogs' true freshman Fares Kilani tallied his best win of the 2012-13 campaign as he knocked off the Wildcats' Alejandro Gomez, 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3), on court No. 3. With his pivotal triumph, Kilani improved to 5-3 in singles play this season.
 
Kilani, Samford's true freshman native of Tunis, Tunisia, was subsequently named the SoCon Player of the Week on Tuesday for his key performances in matches against Troy, No. 11-ranked Mississippi State and No. 6 Kentucky.
 
Then, on Wednesday, just weeks after earning its best victory in school history, Samford again accomplished a program first as the Bulldogs were ranked No. 64 in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.
 
Samford's top doubles team comprised of Garrison Laduca and Zac Dunkle was also recognized as the No. 36-ranked tandem in the nation.
 
Last week, the Bulldogs' Laduca and Dunkle jumped onto the national scene as Samford's pairing knocked off Mississippi State's No. 13-ranked doubles squad comprised of Jordan Angus and Malte Strop, 8-6, in the No. 1 singles contest. So far this season, Samford's historic doubles tandem owns a perfect 2-0 record.
 
As a team, Samford has faced four nationally-ranked opponents this season in No. 6 Kentucky, No. 11 Mississippi State, No. 45 Alabama and No. 59 Georgia State. The Bulldogs' biggest victory of the season occurred Feb. 6, when they traveled to Tuscaloosa, Ala., and toppled the Alabama Crimson Tide, 4-3.
 
College of Charleston (2-3) enters Sunday's showdown in the midst of a three-match Spring Break road trip. On Saturday, the Cougars open their SoCon schedule at Chattanooga and are coming off a hard-fought 4-3 setback against No. 60-ranked Georgia State on Feb. 23.
 
In their key battle with the Panthers, which proved to be one of the longest matches in program history, College of Charleston fell short of the upset bid held at the Blackburn Tennis Center. The epic eight-hour dual match began with singles play and the Cougars took four of the six singles matches into three sets against Georgia State.
 
College of Charleston sophomore Sebastian Lopez defeated Georgia State's Thomas Cook, 7-5, 2-6, 6-0, to level the match at 1-1 after junior Brice Allanic fell in straight sets to No. 75-ranked Victor Valente, 7-5, 6-1, at No. 1.
 
The Cougars then fell behind in the count dropping three-setters at the No. 3 and No. 4 positions, but made a valiant effort to rebound from the 3-1 deficit in the match.
 
College of Charleston's Alon Faiman broke his opponent's serve to come back and get into a tiebreaker in the second set and carried that momentum to close the match out over the Panthers' Andrew Zedde, 7-5, 7-6, at the No. 5 line.
 
In the last singles match standing, the Cougars' freshman Zack Lewis defeated Georgia State's Sofiane Chevallier, 6-1, 4-6, 6-1, to even the score at 3-3 and send the match into doubles play.
 
In the doubles, College of Charleston was outplayed at the No. 2 position, but turned in a flawless doubles match at No. 3. Lewis combined with freshman Josh Record and fought back from being down a break twice in the match to force the tiebreak. The rookie duo stepped up and brought huge energy to win the tiebreaker, 7-0.
 
Nearing the 11 o'clock hour, the match would come down to the final doubles contest of the night as Allanic and Lopez battled Georgia State's top doubles team of Robert Schulze and Thomas Cook. Both teams had a match point, but the Panthers prevailed on their second opportunity. The official time match was seven hours, 47 minutes.
 
Following Sunday's huge SoCon opener against the College of Charleston, the Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action March 10 at 10 a.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs step out of conference play for a brief nonconference matchup against former Ohio Valley Conference-rival Eastern Kentucky. Admission is FREE to all Samford home tennis matches.

Samford Media Guide