Eagles Stumble at Samford
3/17/2012 8:55:00 PM | Men's Tennis
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Georgia Southern Men's Tennis team suffered a road loss at Samford on Saturday afternoon. The Eagles fell to the Bulldogs by a 6-1 score, improving Samford's record to an impressive 10-2 on the season with a 3-0 mark in SoCon play. The Bulldogs also extended their winning streak to seven matches.
The Eagles (1-14, 0-4 SoCon) were disheartened when they narrowly lost the doubles point and fell behind in the match. With doubles play tied at 1-1, the fate of the doubles point came down to the match at the No. 2 position. Eagle duo Marco Osorio (Tegucigalpa, Honduras) and Daniel Rush (Orange Park, Fla.) held the lead at 5-4 on serve but couldn't get the break needed to pull away from Elliot Barnwell and Ryan Shidler. The Bulldog team ended up breaking the Eagles and prevailed, 8-6, grabbing the doubles point and taking the lead in the match. Alain Garrido (Vigo, Spain) and Andrew Dromsky (Martinez, Ga.) had previously leveled doubles play with an 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles over Zac Dunkle and Alexander Sajonz. The Eagle tandem has really gelled as the season has progressed, as the win marks their fourth in five matches. Kyle Hoffman (Sarasota, Fla.) and Albert Codina Sala (Manresa, Spain) lost at the No. 3 position to Fernando Costa and Carson Kadi to allow the Bulldogs to strike first in doubles play.
Winning the doubles point aided the Bulldogs as play transitioned to singles action. Dunkle defeated Garrido at No. 1 singles and Costa downed Codina Sala at No. 4 singles to put the Bulldogs up, 3-0. Barnwell clinched the match for the Bulldogs and improved to 11-1 on the season when he won over Dromsky at No. 3 singles by a score of 6-2, 6-2. Sajonz added a win over Rush at No. 5 singles, while Kadi prevailed in a tough battle over Hoffman at No. 2 singles, 6-4, 3-6, 10-8, to give Samford their total of six points on the afternoon. Osorio got the Eagles in the win column by coming back from down a set to oust Garrison Laduca at No. 6 singles, 3-6, 7-5, 10-6.
The Eagles will look to get the ball bouncing their way again when they return to Statesboro next week for a two-match homestand. First on the slate is a Monday match with Elon set to begin at 2:30 p.m. at Hanner Tennis Complex.
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