Elon Men’s Tennis Opens 2014 Season at Wolfpack Invite

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Elon University men’s tennis team opened its 2014 spring season today, Jan. 10, in the Wolfpack Invite against William & Mary at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center on the campus of NC State.

With the new Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) scoring system in place for the tournament, each player is battling for individual points and not team points. A win in singles earns a player six points while a doubles victory garners three points toward a player’s total score.

With only four courts available Friday for the singles match against the Tribe, Brian Kowalski was first to finish in the first round of matches with a 6-5(3), 6-1 victory over Will Juggins in the No. 3 match. He was followed by Cameron Silverman, as the 25th-ranked player in the country dispatched Ben Guthrie 6-5(4), 6-3 on court No. 1.

Both Stefan Fortmann and Robert Lindgren dropped their match at the No. 2 and No. 4 spots, respectively. They were the only Elon players to fall on the day with the four players in the second round of matches winning.

Jordan Kaufman, Dan Sablik and Ismael Sanchez Delfin each won in straight sets. The No. 6 match between Juan Madrid and Scott Huang was the only contest to go all three sets. Huang took the first set but Madrid rallied back and took the third set in a tiebreaker, 3-6, 6-2, 6-5(8).

Elon returns to the courts early tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. when it takes on No. 35 NC State in doubles. The Phoenix will then take on William & Mary in doubles later in the day in the third set of matches to finish competition against the Tribe for the weekend.

Results
Cameron Silverman def. Ben Guthrie, 6-5(4), 6-3
Ben Hoogland def. Stefan Fortmann, 6-5(2), 6-1
Brian Kowalski def. Will Juggins, 6-5(4), 6-1
Damon Niquet def. Robert Lindgren, 6-4, 6-4
Jordan Kaufman def. John Banks, 6-5(4), 6-1
Juan Madrid def. Scott Huang, 3-6, 6-2, 6-5(8)
Dan Sablik def. Austin Davidow, 6-2, 6-4
Ismael Sanchez Delfin def. Zach Braig, 6-5(3), 6-5(3)