Bears Remain Unbeaten in SoCon, Topping Samford, 6-1

Friday, March 23

Birmingham, Ala.

12 p.m.

Mercer University

Samford

Bears Remain Unbeaten in SoCon, Topping Samford, 6-1

3/23/2018 4:34:00 PM | Men's Tennis

By: Will Tharp

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Mercer Bears' men's tennis team stretched to a three match winning streak with a 6-1 triumph over the Samford Bulldogs Friday afternoon at the Samford Tennis Center.

Mercer took two of the three doubles courts to clinch the doubles point and early 1-0 lead in the match. The Bulldogs struck first with Justin Ghavami and Rossouw Norval defeating Nicolas Guillon and Ruben Vanoppen, 6-3. The Bears rallied back as the No. 3 pairing of Stathis Tsiranidis and Carver Arant topped Hugo Moreira and Aleksandar Petrovic, 6-4. Mercer's No. 1 duo of Sam Philp and Olivier Stuart clinched the doubles point with a 6-4 victory over Jake Faundez and Eduaro Lourido.

The No. 6 singles slotted Arant extended the Bears' lead to 2-0 claiming a 6-2, 6-2, decision over Moreira. On court No. 1, Philp won in dominant fashion over Faundez, 6-4, 6-0. Mercer's No. 2 Stuart rallied from a set down to clinch the match for the Bears, downing Ghavami, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2. Mercer continued to show its resilience as No. 4 Fernando Guardia rallied from a set down, overcoming a triple match point, to beat Norval, 1-6, 7-5, 6-3. Court No. 3 saw Guillon defeat Lourido, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Samford salvaged the final singles point as Vanoppen fell, 6-7, 6-2, 1-0, to Petrovic.

Up Next
The Bears will return home for a non-conference matchup with Lipscomb, this Sunday, March 25 at the LeRoy Peddy Tennis Center. Play is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.

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