Kentucky 4, Samford 0
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University men’s tennis team faced arguably its toughest test of the 2015 dual-match campaign Sunday as the Bulldogs came up short in a 4-0 decision against the No. 27-ranked Kentucky Wildcats in an early-season, non-conference contest held at the Samford Tennis Center.
"We were able to accomplish some of our goals today by getting a better start in the doubles and playing with more energy from the start,” said Samford head coach Rahim Esmail. “We need to make this the standard though, and not the exception. Kentucky is a very good team and it was a great opportunity for us to test ourselves against a program that is consistently one of the top in the country.”
Samford (2-5) has already faced one of its toughest pre-conference schedules in school history this season. The Bulldogs opened the spring with road tests at No. 36 Alabama and No. 28 Mississippi State, as well as key contests with Georgia State, UAB and Lipscomb.
In Sunday’s home showdown against Kentucky (5-6), Samford looked strong in the doubles competition, but the Wildcats were able to rally for victories of 6-4 and 6-2 on courts No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.
The Bulldogs fell behind, 1-0, after losing the doubles point and weren’t able to make up any ground in singles play.
Kentucky, which finished the 2014 dual-match season with a 23-10 overall record and as the No. 15-ranked team in the nation, received straight-set singles wins from Jerry Lopez, William Bushamuka and Kevin Lai on Sunday against Samford.
With Bushamuka’s 7-5, 6-3 win over Austin Akers on court No. 2, the Wildcats were able to secure the 4-0 road victory.
At 5-6 this season, Kentucky’s record is misleading because it has already faced a brutal schedule in the past three weeks, playing five matches against opponents currently ranked among the top-17 in the nation.
“Playing teams like this, you can learn a lot,” Esmail said. “Kentucky was able to expose weaknesses in our game that some other teams aren’t able to expose. Overall, this weekend was a very positive weekend for us. We can take a lot out of it moving forward this week and getting ready for two tough matches on the road next weekend."
Samford will next be in action Saturday at 11 a.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs travel to Richmond, Kentucky, to square off against the Northern Kentucky Norse in a neutral site contest to be held at the Greg Adams Indoor Tennis Center on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University.
Central Florida 7, Mercer 0
ORLANDO, Fla. – The Mercer men's tennis team dropped a 7-0 match to No. 72 UCF on Sunday afternoon.
"We had control of the doubles point, and we let it get away from us," said Head Coach Eric Hayes. "The team ran out of gas later in the match. We'll need to address this issue with conditioning during the break we have coming up. UCF was a tougher team today."
Mercer led 4-0 and 4-1 at the number one and three doubles spots, respectively, before falling at both one and two to lose the doubles point.
The Bears were unable to rally in singles, dropping all six matches. Arnav Mohanty and Sam Philp both played their matches to three sets, however. Arnav Mohanty won his first set before Francesc Aulina came back to win (4-6, 6-3, 10-6). Philp forced a third set after winning his second and played the final set very close, but was unable to pull off the comeback (7-6, 3-6, 11-9)
Next up, Mercer will host Georgia Southwestern on March 3 at 2:30 p.m.
Georgia 7, Furman 0
ATHENS, Ga. – Georgia blanked Furman, 7-0, Sunday at the Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Facility in Athens, Ga.
The Bulldogs won two of three doubles matches to clinch the opening point. Austin Smith and Ben Wagland downed juniors Matt Browne and Ben Horst, 6-3, at flight one, and Paul Oosterbaan and Nick Wood teamed up for a 6-2 win over senior Jacob Behal and freshman Stefan Rhodes at number three. The flight two match was unfinished, with Furman freshman Cameron Green and sophomore Adam Steryous leading Eric Diaz and Nathan Pasha, 5-4.
Georgia swept the singles matches, as 17th-ranked Wayne Montgomery downed Steryous, 6-1, 6-3, in the top-flighted contest, and 15th-ranked Pasha defeated Browne, 6-3, 6-3, at number two. In the flight three match-up, 21st-ranked Smith posted a 7-6, 6-2 victory over Green, and Wagland came from behind for a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 win against Horst at number four. Wood defeated Behal, 6-4, 6-2, at number five, and Oosterbaan topped sophomore Juan Sheppard, 6-2, 6-2, at flight six to complete the sweep.
Furman (2-9) will play host to Troy at the Mickel Tennis Center on March 6 at 3 p.m.