Samford Media Guide

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford University men's tennis team will take a quick break from Southern Conference action Sunday as the Bulldogs welcome former Ohio Valley Conference rival Eastern Kentucky to the Pete Hanna Center for a nonconference matchup slated to begin at 10 a.m. (CDT).
 
Samford (5-4) is in the midst of a four-match homestand and is coming off a huge 6-1 league victory over College of Charleston on Sunday. With the win, the Bulldogs avenged their 4-0 loss to College of Charleston in the championship match of the 2012 SoCon Tournament. Samford and the Cougars are perennially two of the top teams in the league each season.
 
Samford opened its match against College of Charleston in dominating fashion by sweeping the doubles point. On court No. 1, the Bulldogs' No. 36-ranked tandem comprised of Zac Dunkle and Garrison Laduca cruised to an 8-4 victory. Samford's pairing of Elliot Barnwell and Austin Akers then dispatched of its College of Charleston counterparts, 8-3, on court No. 2.
 
Not to be outdone, the Bulldogs' No. 3 doubles combination of Fares Kilani and Alex Sajonz posted an 8-6 triumph over the Cougars' team of Zack Lewis and Josh Record.
 
With the doubles victories, Samford's Dunkle and Laduca remained undefeated on the season at 3-0, while Barnwell and Akers moved to 2-1 this year. The Bulldogs' Kilani and Sajonz also improved to 2-1 in dual-match play this season.
 
After earning its 1-0 lead via the doubles point, Samford then cruised to Sunday's 6-1 team triumph by receiving five straight victories in singles play from Dunkle, Barnwell, Kilani, Sajonz and Akers.
 
Akers, the Bulldogs' sophomore transfer from the University of Wisconsin, improved his team-best singles record to 6-2 this season, while Kilani, the reigning SoCon Player of the Week, moved to 6-3 at the No. 3 singles position.
 
In Sunday's No. 2 singles match, Samford's Barnwell tallied an impressive 6-1, 7-5 victory over College of Charleston's Sebastian Lopez. With the win, Barnwell improved his singles record on the season to 5-4 and the Bulldogs' earned their match-clinching fourth point of the night.
 
Eastern Kentucky (5-8) heads into Sunday's contest with aspirations of snapping its current two-match losing streak. Since defeating Pikeville, 7-0, on Feb. 23, the Colonels have dropped back-to-back road contests at Liberty, 6-1, and at Radford, 4-1. Eastern Kentucky owns an 0-7 record when playing on the road this season.
 
In their most recent match held Sunday at Radford, the Colonels' lone point came from junior Joao Maio at No. 5 singles. He won his match in straight sets over Radford's Randall Carter, 6-1, 6-3. Sophomore Daridge Saidi, Eastern Kentucky's No. 1 player, was one game away from winning his match when the team outcome was decided.
 
Following Sunday's nonconference meeting with Eastern Kentucky, 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.
 
Admission is FREE to all Samford home tennis matches.

Samford Media Guide