BIRMINGHAM, Ala.--The Samford men's tennis team earned a 4-0 sweep of Southern Mississippi Saturday afternoon at the Samford Tennis Complex.
 
"I am extremely proud of the way we competed today," Samford head coach Rahim Esmail said. "There are certain things that we have been emphasizing as a team this season and today we were able to achieve those aspects at a very high level, and that was the difference in the match."
 
Samford improves to 3-2 with the win. Southern Miss drops to 4-3 with the loss.
 
"Southern Miss is a very good team, and has beaten some very quality teams so far this year," Esmail said. "We knew that it was going to be a very tough match today and we had been preparing for it to be that way all week. We upped our compete level on every court today."
 
Samford jumped out to the early lead by taking the doubles point. The Bulldogs won doubles matches at the No. 1 and No. 3 positions to earn the point. Trey Carter and Leonard Gerch defeated Wen-Po Tseng and Chao-Yu Huang, 6-4 at No. 1. At the No.  3 position, Jake Faundez and Eduardo Lourido Sanchez earned a 6-3 win over Mikhail Esipov and Jorman Reyes.
 
Samford won the first three singles matches to earn the 4-0 win. The clinching point came at No. 1 where Fares Kilani defeated Tarun Surat, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2.
 
"Today was a very close match," Kilani said. "We fought hard to get the win – everyone was working hard on their court. We got on them early and everyone motivated each other to get a good start and continue the momentum in the singles. This was one of the hardest singles matches I have played this season. I had to keep my energy level high because the quality of my opponent and the match was very high."
 
At No. 2 singles, Trey Carter defeated Tseng, 6-2, 6-4. Justin Ghavami earned a 6-3, 6-4 win over Huang at the No. 3 spot. Gerch (No. 4), Lourido-Sanchez (No. 5) and Faundez (No. 6) all held leads in their matches when Kilani clinched the match win.
 
"Kilani put in a valiant performance today," Esmail said. "He worked extremely hard for that win today, as did the rest of the team. Leo and Eduardo did not get to finish, as we had clinched the dual match already, but both were playing very confident tennis. That was the best first set of tennis that I have seen Leo play all season, and Eduardo looked very confident out there today. I am looking forward to getting back to work this week."
 
Samford will return to action on Thursday, Feb. 18, when the Bulldogs play at South Alabama. The match is set to start at 1 p.m. in Mobile, Ala.
 
Samford 4, Southern Miss 0
 
Singles
1.Fares Kilani (SAM-M) def. Tarun Surat (USMM) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
2. Trey Carter (SAM-M) def. Wen-Po Tseng (USMM) 6-2, 6-4
3. Justin Ghavami (SAM-M) def. Chao-Yu Huang (USMM) 6-3,  6-4
4. Jorman Reyes (USMM) vs. Leonard  Gerch (SAM-M) no result
5. Mikhail Esipov (USMM) vs. Eduardo L. Sanchez (SAM-M) no result
6. Rakshit Rishi (USMM) vs. Jake Faundez (SAM-M) no result
 
Doubles
1.Trey Carter/Leonard Gerch (SAM-M) def. Wen-Po Tseng/Chao-Yu Huang  (USMM) 6-4
2. Tarun Surat/Daniel Merker (USMM) vs.  Fares Kilani/Justin Ghavami (SAM-M) no result
3. Jake Faundez/Eduardo L. Sanchez (SAM-M) def. Mikhail Esipov/Jorman Reyes (USMM) 6-3