Birmingham, Ala. – The Furman men's tennis team returned to Southern Conference action on Sunday afternoon falling, 5-2, to the Samford Bulldogs from Samford Tennis Center.

Samford improves to 10-4 on the season and 3-0 in conference play. With the loss, Furman drops to 7-9 overall and 1-1 in the SoCon.

The Paladins dropped two of the three doubles matches as the Bulldogs claimed the opening point with wins at No. 1 and No. 2. In the top match, Maxwell Giddens and Sandeep Mohandoss held off Thomas Kennedy and Elijah Poritzky in a tiebreaker, 7-6(5). Santiago Arredondo and Maksim Bogdanovich topped Ben Cahill and Emil Westling, 6-2.

Playing in the No. 3 match, Cole Burnam and Alex Han held off Will Gray and Darcy Nicholls in a tiebreaker, 7-6(5), to secure their second straight victory and seventh of the season.

Samford captured four singles wins in the six matches to record the 5-2 victory. The Bulldogs registered wins at No. 2, No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6. Mohandoss defeated Kennedy in the No. 2 contest, 6-1, 6-3, while Bogdanovich won, 6-4, 7-6(4) over John Rado at No. 4. Arredondo, playing at No. 5, won 6-4, 6-4, against Walker Allen, and Gray earned a 6-3, 6-3 triumph at No. 6 versus Connor Laymon.

Furman picked up straight-set wins from Poritzky at No. 1 and Westling at No. 3. Poritzky collected his fourth win of the year with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Giddens. Westling provided his team leading eighth triumph after topping Nicholls, 7-5, 7-6(3).

The Paladins conclude their seven-match road trip on Friday, March 22 against Tennessee Tech at 1 p.m.