GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Furman men's tennis team saw its comeback bid in singles fall short Tuesday afternoon as the Paladins dropped a 4-3 decision in Southern Conference play to the Samford Bulldogs at Mickel Tennis Center.

Furman falls to 5-8 overall and 2-1 in the SoCon. With the win, Samford improves to 12-4 on the season and 3-0 in conference play.

The Bulldogs swept all three doubles matches the claim the point and take an early 1-0 lead over the Paladins. In the No. 3 match, Sebastian Harrison and Vitorio Sardinha topped Nicolas Dispas and Nico Snyder, 6-1, before Santiago Arredondo and Sandeep Mohandoss clinched the point at No. 2 with their 6-3 win versus Cole Burnam and Connor Laymon. Darcy Nicholls and J.B. Pickard closed out doubles with a 6-3 victory against Matt Kandel and Elijah Poritzky at No. 1.

Samford started singles play winning back-to-back matches at No. 1 and No. 3 to take a 3-0 lead. Hayden Menon won 7-6(4), 6-1 over Theophile Joly in the No. 3 match and Mohandoss followed at No. 1 defeating Poritzky in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4.

Furman rallied back with three straight victories from Kandel at No. 2, John Rado at No. 4, and Walker Allen at No. 6 to even the score at 3-3. Allen picked up a 6-3, 6-3 win versus Arredondo for his team leading seventh win of the year. Kandel then defeated Nicholls in three sets, 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-2, to register his third win. Rado tied the score after his 7-6(5), 6-4 triumph over Pickard, compiling his third victory this year.

In the deciding match at No. 5, Harrison clinched the contest for the Bulldogs with his 6-4, 7-5 win against Dispas.

The Paladins are back on the road Saturday afternoon when they travel to Orangeburg, S.C., for a 1 p.m. matchup at South Carolina State.