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STATESBORO, Ga. – The Samford University men's tennis team will compete in its final road match of the 2013 season Friday at 11 a.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs face the Georgia Southern Eagles in a critical Southern Conference contest to be held at the Hanner Tennis Complex.
 
Samford (11-8, 6-2 SoCon) heads into the matchup as the third-place team in the SoCon standings. The Bulldogs have been victorious in four of their last five outings, but are coming off a hard-fought 4-3 road loss to Furman on Sunday.
 
With its tough setback at Furman, Samford suffered its first defeat since March 24 when the Bulldogs dropped a 5-2 decision against Elon. In road matches this season, Samford owns a 4-6 record.
 
Furman won the doubles point Sunday, which proved to be critical factor in the outcome of the match.
 
The Bulldogs' doubles tandem comprised of Alex Sajonz and Fares Kilani cruised to an 8-3 victory over the Paladins' pairing of Jacob Behal and Tyler Droll on court No. 3, but Furman then rallied to take wins on courts No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.
 
In Sunday's No. 2 doubles contest, the Paladins' duo of Alex Christ and Matt Browne earned the clinching victory by holding off Samford's Elliot Barnwell and Austin Akers, 9-7.
 
Despite losing the all-important doubles point, the Bulldogs bounced back with two quick straight-set triumphs in singles play to garner a 2-1 lead in the match.
 
Samford's Barnwell posted the first victory of the singles competition with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Christ on court No. 2, while Sajonz reeled off a 6-1, 7-6 triumph over Furman's Joel Cook in the No. 4 singles contest. With their respective victories, Barnwell improved to 12-7 in singles play and Sajonz moved to 11-8 this season.
 
Following the Bulldogs' wins from Barnwell and Sajonz, the teams traded singles points on courts No. 5 and No. 3 to give Samford a 3-2 road advantage.
 
Kilani, the Bulldogs' true freshman from Tunis, Tunisia, tallied Samford's triumph with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Furman's Browne on court No. 3. With the win, Kilani improved to 13-6 in dual-match play this season.
 
The Bulldogs held their 3-2 advantage over the Paladins briefly Sunday, but Furman was leading in both of the last two three-set contest on courts No. 1 and No. 6. In the end, despite valiant attempts from Samford's Zac Dunkle and Garrison Laduca, the Paladins were victorious on both courts and tallied the 4-3 come-from-behind team win.
 
Georgia Southern (9-7, 5-3 SoCon) enters Friday's third-place showdown as the fourth-place team in the current SoCon standings. With a win against Samford, the Eagles would move into third place, while the Bulldogs could fall to fifth place, depending on College of Charleston's results against Wofford and UNCG.
 
Samford can jump as high as second place in the final SoCon standings. With wins against Georgia Southern and The Citadel, the Bulldogs would finish the season with an 8-2 conference record. In that scenario, Samford would also need College of Charleston to defeat second-place UNCG on Friday.
 
Georgia Southern is coming off a huge 4-3 road win at first-place Elon on Sunday.
 
In their momentous come-from-behind victory, the Eagles overcame a 3-0 deficit as four Georgia Southern singles players earned consecutive wins to claim the victory against the Phoenix, which was previously undefeated in league play.
 
With the overall score of the match deadlocked at 3-3, the Eagles' Andrew Dromsky rose to the occasion, winning his No. 1 match against reigning SoCon Player of the Month Stefan Fortmann, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-2, to give Georgia Southern its most significant win of the year. Before Dromksy's heroics, three other Eagles tallied crucial singles wins, all three-setters with losses of the second sets.
 
After dropping the first two singles matches on courts No. 3 and No. 5, Georgia Southern junior Marco Osorio gave the Eagles a much needed win at No. 6 by defeating Ismael S. Delfin, 7-5, 3-6, 6-1, for his ninth victory of the season.
 
Osorio's win was followed by fellow junior Oliver Webb's victory on court No. 4. The London, England native needed three sets to put away his opponent Brian Kowalski 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 for his third conference victory in four matches played.
 
Georgia Southern's momentum continued Sunday on court No. 2 where freshman Rayane Djouad picked up his team-leading seventh conference victory and 12th overall. The rookie showed resilience after a 6-0 loss in the second set as he took the overall win (6-2, 0-6, 6-4) against Robert Lindgren, tying the match at 3-3.
 
In last season's annual matchup between Samford and Georgia Southern, the Bulldogs registered a 6-1 triumph against the Eagles in an early-league contest held at the Samford Tennis Center.
 
Samford took an early 1-0 lead in the 2012 contest by taking the doubles point. The Bulldogs claimed the doubles victory by winning on courts No. 2 and No. 3.
 
In singles play, Samford rattled off straight-set triumphs from Dunkle, Barnwell, Fernando Costa and Sajonz. Barnwell defeated the Eagles' Dromsky, 6-2, 6-2, on court No. 3, while Dunkle breezed by Georgia Southern's Alain Garrido in the No. 1 singles contest, 6-1, 6-1.
 
Samford's sixth point was registered on court No. 2 where Carson Kadi outlasted the Eagles' Kyle Hoffman, 6-4, 3-6, 1-0(8).
 
Following Friday's contest at Georgia Southern, the Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Saturday at noon (CDT) as the Bulldogs square off against The Citadel Bulldogs in a regular-season finale to be held at the Samford Tennis Center.

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