Samford 5, Chattanooga 2
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- The Samford University men's tennis team rebounded from its hard-fought 4-3 non-conference loss to Alabama on Wednesday by posting a critical 5-2 road Southern Conference triumph against the Chattanooga Mocs Friday in a regular-season finale held at the UTC Tennis Courts.
With the win, Samford (15-4, 9-1 SoCon) extended its conference winning streak to four-straight matches. Since suffering a nail-biting 4-3 road loss at first-place College of Charleston on March 23, the Bulldogs have reeled off consecutive SoCon victories against Davidson 5-2, Elon 4-3, UNCG 4-3 and Chattanooga (13-8, 4-6 SoCon) 5-2.
Samford has already closed out its regular-season schedule with a 9-1 conference record. The Bulldogs currently sit behind undefeated College of Charleston in second place, but the 8-0 Cougars have yet to play at Appalachian State and Davidson this weekend. With CofC losses in both matches, Samford would surpass the Cougars for the first-place position and claim the regular-season title.
In Friday's key victory at Chattanooga, Samford earned the doubles point by winning on courts Nos. 1 and 3. The Bulldogs' tandem of Zac Dunkle and Alexander Sajonz tallied an 8-4 victory in the No. 1 doubles contest, while Fernando Costa and Carson Kadi cruised to an 8-2 triumph over the Mocs' Stephen Crofford and Pavels Grigorjevs, 8-2, on court No. 3.
With their victory, Samford's tandem of Costa and Kadi improved their team-best doubles record to 15-4 this season.
The Bulldogs earned singles wins on courts Nos. 1, 3, 5 and 6 on Friday to secure their 5-2 team triumph over Chattanooga. The victory was clinched in the No. 1 singles contest as Samford's Dunkle earned a key 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 win over the Mocs' Roberto Vieira. Dunkle, the Bulldogs' talented native of Atlanta, Ga., improved his singles record to 12-7 on the season.
Samford's lone straight-set victory occurred at the No. 5 singles position Wednesday where Sajonz defeated Chattanooga's Jackson Tresnan, 6-3, 7-5, to move his dual-match record to 13-5 this year.
The two most critical singles victories for the Bulldogs came from Elliot Barnwell on court No. 3 and Garrison LaDuca on court No. 6. In a pair of must-have three-set matches, Barnwell outlasted Chris Smith, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, while LaDuca tallied a dramatic 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5) triumph in the No. 6 singles contest.
With the victories, Barnwell improved to 17-2 on the season and LaDuca moved to 4-4 in dual-match play.
Georgia Southern 6, The Citadel 1
STATESBORO, Ga. - The Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team came through in a big way on Friday afternoon when it capped its regular season slate with a 6-1 victory over The Citadel. The afternoon was highlighted by a Senior Day ceremony prior to the match that celebrated the careers of seniors Derrick Davison, Sebastien Felt and captain Alain Garrido.
The Eagles (2-19, 1-9 SoCon) got out to an early 1-0 lead in the match when they successfully secured the doubles point. The Eagles' No. 1 doubles duo of Garrido and Andrew Dromsky clinched the point by persevering in a seesaw affair over Bulldogs David Orces and James Atkinson. Garrido and Dromsky broke serve twice to take a 4-1 lead only to see the Bulldogs battle back and go up, 6-5. However, the top Eagle tandem won the next three games to take the match, ending with a Garrido overhead to hold his serve after fighting off several break points. Matthijs Verdam and Kyle Hoffman had already won the first match for the Eagles at No. 2 doubles when they rallied from a 4-1 deficit to win the final seven games and take the match over Dillon Berkabile and Peter Bleach, 8-4. The Bulldogs did salvage the match at No. 3 doubles when Alex Howle and Elliott Sperr won the big points to close out Davison and Daniel Rush, 8-6.
Despite losing the doubles point, the Bulldogs weren't going down without a fight in singles play. Orces proved to be a tough customer when he downed Garrido at No. 1 singles to level the match at 1-1. The Eagles grabbed the lead back at 2-1 when the big lefty, Dromsky, dominated in a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Josh Cook at No. 2 singles. Hoffman put the Eagles up 3-1 when he engineered a hard-fought 6-3, 6-3 win at No. 3 singles over Atkinson. Albert Codina Sala then put the Eagles in the winner's circle when he clawed his way to a 6-4, 7-5 win over Sperr at No. 6 singles, rallying from a 5-4 second-set deficit. Verdam added the Eagles' fourth singles victory of the afternoon when he ousted Berkabile at No. 4 singles, 6-4, 6-3. Marco Osorio capped the scoring efforts for the Eagles when he pulled through in three sets against Bleach at No. 5 singles, making the final score 6-1.
Appalachian State 5, College of Charleston 2
BOONE, N.C. - In the team's final match of the regular season, Appalachian State University men's tennis stunned the Southern Conference with a 5-2 win over league rival College of Charleston at ASU Tennis Courts on Friday. The Mountaineers (14-5-1, 7-2-1 SoCon) are now set to enter the postseason on a high note by handing the visiting Cougars (14-4, 8-1 SoCon) their first conference loss of the year.
With the win, Appalachian State picks up its seventh SoCon victory, matching last season's total for the most league wins in head coach Bob Lake's 12-season career. This year's conference winning percentage (.750) is the team's highest during Lake's tenure.
Prior to Friday's match, Appalachian seniors Alain Humblet, Philip Kloc and Alex Markov were recognized for their contributions to the ASU men's tennis program.
On Friday, College of Charleston stole the first doubles match, picking up an 8-5 win in the No. 1 position. Appalachian's No. 3 pair of redshirt junior Steve Karendal and junior Andrew McKinnon took a quick lead, opening a 5-1 lead in their doubles match, and the Mountaineers won their final three games in an 8-2 win to tie the pairs competition.
In the No. 2 match, Mountaineer seniors Humblet and Markov broke serve in the opening game of the match and held the lead to a 7-6 advantage. While the Apps served for the match, the Cougars duo rallied to tie the match and force a tiebreaker. The extra points saw Humblet and Markov pick up a 4-2 lead at the court change, and the Black and Gold held on for the 9-8(7-4) win to clinch Appalachian's doubles point.
With the conference-leading Cougars trailing, Appalachian's netters kept up the pressure.
Sophomore Matt Saltsgaver scored four of the last five games of his opening set and accomplished the same feat in the second to win his No. 5 singles match, 6-3, 6-3. Entering the day, his CofC opponent had won seven straight matches and 11 sets in a row prior to his meeting with Saltsgaver.
Less than 10 minutes later, Karendal polished off his match with a second-set break point to close out an energetic 6-2, 6-4 triumph at No. 4 singles to put the Mountaineers on top 3-0, one point from winning the team match.
College of Charleston put its first point on the board when Kyle Parker pulled out a 6-4, 6-3 win in the No. 3 match.
Appalachian's clinching point came from senior Kloc, who scored a pair of break points in the first set and accumulated a 5-0 lead in the second set to mark a span of seven unanswered games. CofC scored a trio of game points before Kloc closed the door on a 6-3, 6-3 win to hand ASU the team win.
Moments after Kloc's win, Appalachian's McKinnon iced a 7-5, 6-4 victory in the No. 6 match. The Mountaineer broke serve three times to close out the lengthy opening set before using an early break point to hold on to the latter set, giving ASU a 5-1 advantage.
In the final match on the courts, senior Markov rebounded from a late break-point and loss in the opening set to equalize the match at a set apiece. The decisive set saw CofC break the opening game, and Mickael Trintignac was able to confidently conclude a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 win for College of Charleston.