Chattanooga, Tenn. – The third-seeded Furman men's tennis team saw its season come to an end Friday with a 4-2 defeat to No. 2 seed Samford in the semifinals of the SoCon Men's Tennis Championship at the Champions Club.

Furman closes out the year with a 13-12 overall record. With the win, Samford improves to 15-7 on the season and advances to Saturday's championship match versus top-seeded East Tennessee State.

The Paladins struck first by clinching the opening point with wins in both completed doubles matches. Ben Cahill and Emil Westling, playing at the No. 2 spot, got things started by winning their 10^th match of the season with a 6-4 triumph over Santiago Arredondo and J.B. Pickard. Cole Burnam and Connor Laymon finished the year undefeated winning their fourth straight match and securing the point for Furman with a 6-3 victory against Will Gray and Darcy Nicholls.

The second team All-SoCon combination of Thomas Kennedy and Elijah Poritzky were tied in their No. 1 match versus Maxwell Giddens and Sandeep Mohandoss, 5-5, when the Paladins clinched the doubles point.

Poritzky quickly gave Furman a 2-0 advantage at No. 1 when the first team All-SoCon selection topped Giddens in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, for his ninth win overall and fourth straight to end the season.

The Bulldogs answered by winning four consecutive matches to pick up the victory. In the No. 2 match, Mohandoss won 6-4, 6-1, over Kennedy, and Pickard earned a 6-2, 7-6(5) win against Burnam at No. 5. Playing at No. 3, Nicholls picked up a three-set win versus Westling, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.

The final two contests to determine the match came down to the third, and final, sets. Arredondo held off Laymon in a thriller at No. 6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(6), to secure the victory for Samford. John Rado was also in the third set of his No. 4 match against Maksim Bogdanovich when the match was clinched.