Elon 5, Samford 2
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. --- The Samford University men's tennis team had its four-match winning streak snapped Tuesday as the Bulldogs dropped a hard-fought 5-2 loss against the 72nd-ranked Elon Phoenix in a Southern Conference showdown held at the Samford Tennis Center.
With the defeat, Samford (11-4, 1-2 SoCon) suffered its first setback since a similar 5-2 conference loss to UNC Greensboro on March 10. Prior to Tuesday's result, the Bulldogs had tallied consecutive victories against Murray State 7-0, Saint Leo 8-1, Florida Gulf Coast 7-0 and The Citadel 6-1.
Samford moved to 9-3 when playing at home this season and will begin a key two-match SoCon road trip Saturday against Davidson.
Elon (9-5, 3-0 SoCon) remained undefeated in conference play this season and earned its third straight victory. Heading into Tuesday's contest, the Phoenix was coming off back-to-back 4-3 triumphs against SoCon foes Davidson and Chattanooga.
In Tuesday's match, Elon won the doubles point and then earned singles victories on courts No. 1, No. 2, No. 5 and No. 6.
Samford's singles triumphs were registered by seniors Carl Abalos and Oliver Reynolds on courts No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. In the No. 3 singles matchup, Abalos tallied a come-from-behind victory against the Phoenix's Eric Turner 4-6, 6-4, 10-2, while Reynolds outlasted Elon's Chase Helpingstine 3-6, 6-2, 10-3 on court No. 4.
With their play Tuesday, both Abalos and Reynolds improved their singles records on the season to 11-3. They also extended their individual winning streaks to five-consecutive matches.
Radford 7, Davidson 0
DAVIDSON, N.C. - Radford, which climbed up to No. 63 in this week's ITA Rankings, ran its winning streak to nine straight with a 7-0 victory over Davidson Tuesday afternoon in non-conference men's tennis action.
The Highlanders were the Wildcats' seventh ranked opponent they have played this year, with six of them still in the top-75 of the ITA Rankings.
The shutout was the fourth of the season and 14th dating back to 2009 for the Highlanders (13-3), who have won 12 of their last 13 matches. Davidson fell to 4-12 on the season as it has gone 1-4 on its six-match homestand.
The Wildcats gave Radford all it could handle in the opening doubles matches, taking all three matches down to the wire. The No. 3 team of Chris Mark and Kevin Moore went the distance, but fell 9-8, while Ethan Kallick and Walker Lyons took Stijn Meulemans and Igor Ogrizek to an extra game before dropping a 9-7 decision. The duo saw their four-match winning streak come to an end.
Davidson then fell behind 2-0 in the match after Calum Gee dropped a 6-1, 6-1 match at No. 3. Radford went on to take all five of the other singles matches in earning the shutout win.
Arie Hefter played a third-set super tie-breaker after he captured the first match 6-4, but fell 7-5 in the second set. The match had been decided, so a super tie-breaker was played with the senior falling 10-6 to Meulemans at No. 5.
Lyons played strong in his singles match, falling just short of forcing a third set when he lost 6-4, 7-6 at No. 4.
Davidson continues its homestand when it plays host to Southern Conference-foe Samford on Saturday, Mar. 26 at 1 p.m.