Box Score
Samford StatsMACON, Ga. -- It's safe to say that the Samford University men's tennis team is eager to return home to the friendly confines of the Samford Tennis Center. Following a huge 4-3 victory against No. 47-ranked UNC-Wilmington on March 28, the Bulldogs have suffered four-consecutive Southern Conference road defeats, including Saturday's 5-2 setback against the Mercer Bears.
In Saturday's contest held at Mercer's Leroy Peddy Tennis Center,
Samford (7-10, 1-4 SoCon) dropped its fourth-consecutive league decision on the road; all of which have been decided by identical 5-2 results.
The Bulldogs opened 2015 league play with a key 5-2 home victory against UNCG, but have since dropped road matches at ETSU, 5-2, Wofford, 5-2, Furman, 5-2, and
Mercer (12-12, 5-2 SoCon). Saturday's meeting with the Bears proved to be the first as SoCon rivals after Mercer recently joined the conference in 2014.
On Saturday, Samford's doubles pairing of
Trey Carter and
Jake Faundez rolled to an 8-4 victory on court No. 1, but Mercer rebounded and tallied wins on both court No. 2 and No. 3.
The Bears, by winning the all-important doubles point, garnered the early 1-0 advantage in the contest and then extended its lead to 3-0 with singles victories at No. 3 and No. 1.
Next up, the Bulldogs received singles wins from senior
Austin Akers and true freshman
Justin Ghavami. Akers, Samford's talented native of Lexington, Kentucky, toppled the Bears' Arnav Mohanty, 7-6 (4), 6-2, on court No. 2, while Ghavami cruised past Anderson Scarpa, 6-2, 6-3, in the No. 4 singles contest.
With their wins, Akers and Ghavami both improved to 9-7 in dual-match play this season.
Mercer, which was leading 3-2 after the Bulldogs' singles triumphs, closed out its 5-2 team victory with back-to-back wins on singles courts No. 5 and No. 6.
The Samford University men's tennis team will next be in action Wednesday at 3 p.m. (CDT) as the Bulldogs return home to Birmingham, Alabama, for a key Southern Rail Rivalry contest against the Chattanooga Mocs. The matchup will be held at the Samford Tennis Center.
Box Score
Samford Stats
