BOX SCORE (PDF)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Samford men's tennis team earned a 5-2 win over Tennessee Tech Friday afternoon at the Samford Tennis Center.
 
"Today was a very hard fought match by both teams," Samford head coach Rahim Esmail said. "We did not play a good doubles point at all, but did a great job across the board in every singles match. We found a way to dig deep and gut out some very tight sets on a lot of courts and this made a huge difference."
 
With the win, Samford improves to 6-6 on the season. Tennessee Tech falls to 4-9 with the loss.
 
"Max (Rebol) did a great job getting us on the board quickly in singles, and the fact that we won first sets across the board helped a lot with momentum," Esmail said. "Rossouw (Norval) played very convincing tennis today – that was a very tough match on court 1 and he stuck to his game the entire match and it paid off in the end. We definitely earned our wins today. Looking forward to competing again this week."
 
Tennessee Tech swept the three doubles matches to take an early 1-0 lead.
 
Samford earned singles wins at No. 1, No. 2, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 to earn the 5-2 win. Rossouw Norval's 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 win at No. 1 clinched the victory for the Bulldogs.
 
Samford will play a pair of matches in Orlando, Fla. next week, taking on Youngstown State Monday and North Dakota Tuesday.
 
Samford 5, Tennessee Tech 2
SINGLES
1. Rossouw Norval (SAM-M) def. Rafael Tosetto (TTU) 6-2, 3-6, 7-6
2. Daniel Orlita (SAM-M) def. Elias Grubert (TTU) 7-5, 7-6
3. Sami Kirberg (SAM-M) def. Gonzalo Garcia (TTU) 6-3, 7-5
4. Aleksandar Petrovic (SAM-M) def. Carlos Vicente (TTU) 7-5, 4-6, 6-1
5. Max Rebol (SAM-M) def. Wenceslao Albin (TTU) 6-3, 6-3
6. Riku Kubota (TTU) def. Jack Lyttle (SAM-M) 5-7, 6-2, 6-4
 
DOUBLES
1. Carlos Vicente/Gonzalo Garcia (TTU) def. Sami Kirberg/Jack Lyttle (SAM-M) 6-2
2. Fanis Kontopoulos/Lucca Silva (TTU) def. Rossouw Norval/Daniel Orlita (SAM-M) 6-2
3. Wenceslao Albin/Riku Kubota (TTU) def. Max Rebol/Aleksandar Petrovic (SAM-M) 7-5