ELON, N.C. – The Elon men’s tennis team split a pair of matches under windy, cold conditions at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Saturday, Feb. 25. The Phoenix earned a 6-1 victory over Queens to open the day before dropping a 4-3 decision to South Carolina State.
Elon is now 3-6 on the year.
Elon 6, Queens 1
Elon began the day by sweeping all three doubles matches versus the Royals to earn the point. Cameron Silverman and Jordan Kaufman defeated Raahil Dhruva and Christaan Lee-Daigle 8-4 while Andrew Prince and Christopher Geaslen earned an 8-5 win over Gustavo Munhoz and Andrew Bafume to clinch the point. Stefan Fortmann and Dan Sablik earned a 9-7 win over Joshua Bloch and Ignacio Casali at the two spot to complete the sweep for the Phoenix.
In singles, Prince defeated Casali 6-2, 6-1 while teammate Juan Madrid earned a 6-2, 6-2 win over Dhruva on court four to give Elon a 3-0 edge. Silverman downed Lee-Daigle 6-4, 6-1 at number one and Geaslen claimed a 6-3, 6-2 win over Munhoz court six. At number two, Elon’s Carlos Arboleda downed Joshua Bloch 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 1-0 (10-7). Bafume earned the only point for Queens, downing Sablik 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 1-0 (10-4).
South Carolina State 4, Elon 3
In the second match of the day, South Carolina State earned the doubles point after tallying victories at number two and three. On the third court, Thomas Bizon and Young Lee-Kwang defeated Geaslen and Kaufman, 8-3, before Anton Protsenko and Dmytro Kovalevych handed Fortmann and Madrid an 8-5 setback.
At number one doubles, Eric Turner and Siverman earned a win for the Phoenix with an 8-7 (7-4) victory over Peteris Vinogradovs and Artemiy Nikitin.
In singles play, Silverman earned a point for Elon with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Vishwesh Sinha at number one.
But South Carolina State regained the lead when Protsenko handed Turner 6-1, 6-2 setback court three.
Elon knotted the match at 2-all after Fortmann, now 7-3 on the season, claimed a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Kovalevych at number two.
But South Carolina State responded, as Vinogradovs defeated Kaufman 6-3, 6-4 before Nikitin downed Carlos Arboleda 6-4, 6-3 to clinch the match for the Bulldogs.
Prince picked up a hard-fought victory for the Phoenix on court six with a 6-7 (3-7), 6-1, 1-0 (10-5) win over Jang Lee-Eun.
Elon returns to action on Saturday, March 3 when it opens Southern Conference play at College of Charleston.