The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men's tennis team dropped a 5-2 match to Samford at the Champions Club today.  The Mocs won two singles matches but could not get over the hump against the Bulldogs.

UTC dropped the opening doubles point, but got the win at No. 1.  Sophomore Simon Bustamante and freshman Jacob Marshall fought off Jake Faundez and Rossouw Norval for a [7-5 (5)] win. 

After Samford went up 3-1 with two wins in singles, sophomore Niklas Gerdes had an impressive (6-4, 6-3) win over Faundez at No. 1.  Bustamante won at No. 2 when he was leading 3-0 in the third set and his opponent retired.    

"After the doubles point, we had some chances to get four first sets in singles," stated head coach Chuck Merzbacher.  "We got three, and we battled to the end. Great win for Niklas at No. 1, and great win at No. 1 doubles for Jacob and Simon."

Up next for the Mocs is a Saturday match against UNCG.  First serve is set for Noon at the Champions Club in Chattanooga.  A link for live scoring is on the men's tennis schedule page on GoMocs.com. 

Samford 5, Chattanooga 2
04/11/2018 at Chattanooga, Tenn. (Champions Club)
Doubles competition
1. Simon Bustamante/Jacob Marshall (UTC) def. Jake Faundez/Rossouw Norval (SAM) 7-6 (7-5)
2. Justin Ghavami/Aleksandar Petrovic (SAM) def. Niklas Gerdes/Michael Birnbaum (UTC) 6-3
3. Max Rebol/Eduardo Lourido (SAM) def. Pablo Llebeili/Luke Plaisted (UTC) 6-4

Singles competition
1. Niklas Gerdes (UTC) def. Jake Faundez (SAM) 6-4, 6-3
2. Simon Bustamante (UTC) def. Justin Ghavami (SAM) 6-4, 4-6, 3-0, retired
3. Eduardo Lourido (SAM) def. Pablo Llebeili (UTC) 6-2, 6-0
4. Rossouw Norval (SAM) def. Luke Plaisted (UTC) 6-2, 6-2
5. Aleksandar Petrovic (SAM) def. Jacob Marshall (UTC) 7-6 (7-5), 6-2
6. Max Rebol (SAM) def. Cooper Long (UTC) 4-6, 7-5, 6-4

Match Notes
Samford 9-10, 2-4
Chattanooga 8-14, 1-5
Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (3,4,1,5,2,6)
T-3:10 A-35