Samford wins first in SoCon

It wasn't talent, Samford men's tennis coach Kemper Baker said, that carried the Bulldogs to a Southern Conference tournament championship Saturday at the Champions Club.

Instead, Baker said after fifth-seeded Samford blasted No. 2 seed College of Charleston 4-0, team spirit and energy led to the school's first SoCon championship in any men's sport since the Bulldogs joined the league in 2008-09.

"It plays a major role because we're not very good tennis players," Baker said, "so we have to be able to create an environment that's very positive and emotional and inspiring for our guys for them to perform at a level where we can compete with a team as talented as Charleston."

During the match all of Samford's players were screaming and pumping fists after each good point. Even the backups who weren't in action were busy, calling out each positive result.

Baker, meanwhile, always looked calm. He even spent part of the match watching, leash in hand, with his chocolate labrador retriever at his feet.

When Zac Dunkle won the first set at No. 2 singles, "Set on 2!" was shouted out around the facility. That kind of support and positive energy was there from the start and only intensified after Samford won the doubles point.

The Bulldogs steamrolled from there.

Moments after his best friend and roommate of four years, Oliver Reynolds, won at No. 4 singles to put Samford up 3-0, Carl Abalos clinched the win at No. 3 when Charleston's Tom Delme double faulted on match point.

"That's the best I've ever felt in my life," Abalos said of the win and ensuing celebration, which had him on his back at the bottom of a big dogpile.

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