Samford 6, Georgia Southern 1
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University men’s tennis team closed out its 2014 home schedule in impressive fashion Saturday as the Bulldogs picked up a 6-1 Southern Conference triumph over the Georgia Southern Eagles in a Senior Day contest held at the Samford Tennis Center.
During Saturday’s key SoCon matchup, Samford (7-9, 4-3 SoCon) honored senior Elliot Barnwell with a special Senior Day presentation.
Barnwell, the Bulldogs’ highly-touted native of Mancetter, United Kingdom, proved to be victorious in both doubles and singles play. In the opening doubles round of action, he teamed with Trey Carter on court No. 1 and registered an 8-4 victory over the Eagles’ combination of Oliver Webb and Kyle Hoffman.
In singles play, Barnwell also tallied a three-set triumph on court No. 1 against Georgia Southern’s Webb, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4). With his victory, Barnwell earned his fifth-consecutive singles win and improved his dual-match record on the season to 11-5.
On Saturday, Georgia Southern (3-16, 2-5 SoCon) picked up its lone singles victory on court No. 6. The Eagles were also triumphant in the No. 3 doubles match.
Samford picked up the all-important doubles point and garnered an early 1-0 lead in the SoCon contest. The Bulldogs then added straight-set triumphs in singles play from Fares Kilani, Austin Akers and Liam Sullivan.
Kilani, Samford’s dominant No. 2 singles player from Tunis, Tunisia, notched his second straight singles victory Saturday by defeating Georgia Southern’s Kyle Hoffman, 6-1, 6-1. On the season, Kilani boasts a 9-7 record in dual-match play.
In the No. 3 singles contest, the Bulldogs’ Carter recorded his fifth-consecutive win with a hard-fought three-set triumph against the Eagles’ Marco Osorio, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3.
Samford’s Akers improved to 6-9 with his quick victory on court No. 4, while Sullivan knocked off Georgia Southern’s Albert Codina Sala, 6-3, 6-3, to move his dual-match singles record on the season to 8-7.
Elon 6, Furman 1
GREENVILLE, S.C. – The 49th-ranked Elon University men's tennis team defeated the 75th-ranked Furman Paladins today, April 5, by a score of 6-1 at the Mickel Tennis Center in a crucial match in the overall Southern Conference standings.
Entering the day, the Phoenix and Paladins were the only two undefeated teams in SoCon play with just a handful of matches remaining. With the win, Elon now stands alone at the top of the standings in its quest to repeat as the conference's regular season champion.
The match started with what turned into a nail biting doubles finish, as the point came down to the result on doubles court No. 3. After splitting the matches on the first two courts with Cameron Silverman and Jordan Kaufman winning 8-4 on court No. 1, Stefan Fortmann, the reigning SoCon Player of the Month, and Juan Madrid were forced into a tiebreaker with Alex Christ and Ben Horst. The two sides went back and forth in the tiebreaker, but it was the Elon pair that ultimately came out on top with an 8-7 (7-5) victory.
After taking the initial point, Elon continued making its way to the match victory, but the victory did come easily as Furman fought tooth and nail trying to climb back into the match.
In first sets across the board, Fortmann, Madrid and Brian Kowalski each fell down 4-1 to start their respective matches. Though Kowalski couldn't recover in his first set against Joel Cook, the junior rebounded in the second set to force a third set, ultimately taking the match 2-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Both Fortmann and Madrid did rebound from their respective deficits on court Nos. 2 and 6, respectively, as each player rallied back to win the first set before dominating second sets. To finish their individual matches after trailing 4-1, Fortmann went on a 12-2 run to win 7-6 (7-2), 6-0 and Madrid went on an 11-1 run to win 6-4, 6-1.
Elon also got wins from Silverman on court No. 1 and Robert Lindgren on court No. 3. Silverman, ranked No. 36 in the nation, beat Adam Steryous, the No. 94 player in the country, by a score of 6-2, 6-2 while Lindgren topped Luke Synn 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (11-9) in a super tiebreaker.
Kaufman was the only Elon player to fall on the afternoon, as the junior dropped a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 decision to Juan Sheppard on court No. 5.
UNCG 5, Appalachian State 2
GREENSBORO, N.C. – An early hole was too much to climb out of as Appalachian State University men’s tennis lost it second-straight Southern Conference contest in a 5-2 loss at UNCG on Saturday afternoon.
The Mountaineers (7-11, 4-2 SoCon) fell behind early and never recovered as the Spartans (11-6, 4-2) picked up the crucial doubles point and won three singles matches to clinch the win before Appalachian picked up its first point.
Oliver Casey improved to 11-5 on the season as he earned a win at No. 2 singles for the Mountaineers, downing his opponent by a final of 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. Zach Bost tallied App State’s final point of the day with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 win at the No. 4 spot.
Two other singles matches went to three sets, but Appalachian couldn’t come away with a win in either contest. Jack Maddocks fell at No. 5 (6-4, 4-6, 6-3) and Jan-Willem Kleynhans dropped his contest at No. 6 (1-6, 6-4, 6-1).
UNCG largely dominated doubles play, winning at No. 2 by a final of 8-4 and at No. 3 by a score of 8-3. Appalachian’s duo of Bost/Sebastien King put up a valiant effort at No. 1, but fell by a final of 8-7 (7-2).