Elon Women’s Tennis Phoenix Travels for Midweek Match Against ECU

ELON, N.C. – Hitting the road for the first time since the end of January, the Elon University women’s tennis team will head to Greenville, N.C. tomorrow, March 6, for a 2:30 p.m. match with the East Carolina Pirates.

ELON vs. EAST CAROLINA: The Pirates have dominated the all-time series with the Phoenix, but Elon has started to change the trend each of the last two years. Thursday’s match in Greenville will mark the 14th time the two will meet and East Carolina holds a 12-2 record against Elon. But, the Phoenix has taken the last two matches in convincing fashion. Last season, Elon closed the regular season against ECU with a 7-0 win. The year before, the Phoenix topped East Carolina 6-1 on the road.

LOOKING BACK: Last weekend, the Phoenix opened their final season of Southern Conference play against Georgia Southern with a 7-0 sweep of the Eagles at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on March 1.Frida Jansaker and Maria Camara Ruiz set the ton for the afternoon with a quick 8-0 sweep on doubles court No. 2 to get the Phoenix off and running towards the sweep. Tolley Rice was the only Elon player to lose a set in singles, but the freshman recovered to win the second set before taking the super tiebreaker to finish off the sweep for the Phoenix.

STREAKING PHOENIX: After dropping its first four matches of the season, Elon has won five straight and is looking to continue its streak against the Pirates. Last season, the Phoenix had two double-digit winning streaks. The Phoenix won 11 in a row to start the season 11-1. After dropping two consecutive matches, the Phoenix won 10 in a row before falling to College of Charleston in the Southern Conference tournament finals.

ON A ROLL: Through this five-match winning streak, Elon has picked up ufour 7-0 sweeps. Jordan Johnston,Barbora Lazarova and Tolley Rice have led the charge for the Phoenix in winning each of their last five respective matches. Though sitting out two matches of the streak, Jansaker has come out victorious in each of her last four matches. Bryn Khoury holds a 5-1 record in her last six matches and Taylor Casey is 4-1 in her last five matches.

JANSAKER HONORED: Jansaker became the fourth Elon athlete throughout the 2013-2014 academic year to be named the Southern Conference Student-Athlete of the Week on Feb. 19. The honor came after Jansaker won her doubles match against UNC Wilmington Feb. 17 before helping Elon come from behind against the Seahawks to win the match with a victory at No. 2 singles. Nathan Dean of the men’s soccer team, Sam Coffer of the women’s basketball team and Brian Kowalski of the men’s tennis team are the other three Elon athletes to earn the award this year.

LOOKING AHEAD: Elon will stay out of Southern Conference play next Tuesday, March 11, at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center against Gardner-Webb. The match is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. The match against the Runnin’ Bulldogs marks the second-to-last nonconference matchup of the season for the Phoenix. Elon will finish its nonconference slate March 16 on the road at Wake Forest.