Elon Men’s Tennis Picks Up Win in Home Opener

ELON, N.C. – The Elon men’s tennis team opened up the 2012 home season at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center in impressive fashion with a 7-0 win over Tennessee Tech today, Feb. 3. The Phoenix improves to 1-2, while the Golden Eagles fall to 1-4.

“It was really good to see the team at full strength today after battling a lot of illnesses recently,” said Elon head men’s tennis coach Michael Leonard. “It was also Juan Madrid’s first collegiate match and to see him compete and come out with a win was great.”

Cameron Silverman and Eric Turner got the Phoenix off to a good start at number one doubles with a 8-3 win over Syrym Abdukhalikov and Artem Tarasov. Elon clinched the doubles point after a strong 8-1 win at number three by Stefan Fortmann and Juan Madrid over Alex Chen and Alejandro Bueno. Jordan Kaufman and Andrew Prince completed the doubles sweep on court two with an 8-5 victory over Vasily Eremeev and James Crwaford.

Elon won all six singles matches in straight sets, starting at number five as Kaufman defeated Tarasov, 6-2, 6-1. Fortmann also made quick work of his opponent, Chen, at number two, claiming a 6-3, 6-1 victory to put the Phoenix up 3-0.

Silverman clinched the match win for the maroon and gold by defeating Abdukhalikov, 6-2, 7-5, at number one. On court three, Turner won easily over Bueno by a score of 6-2, 6-4.

In the first singles match of his collegiate career, Madrid picked up the first set over Eremeev at number four, 7-5, before rolling in the second set to a 6-2 victory. Carlos Arboleda sealed the sweep for the maroon and gold with a 6-4, 6-0 win at number six.

The Phoenix will return to action on Sunday, Feb. 5, with a 1 p.m. match against Gardner Webb.