Elon Men’s Tennis Closes Regular Season Against ECU

ELON, N.C. – With the regular season Southern Conference championship in tow, the Elon University men’s tennis team will close the season tomorrow, April 12, at 1 p.m. against East Carolina at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. The Phoenix will hold Senior Day ceremonies prior to the match to honor the team’s lone senior, Cameron Silverman.

TRACK THE PHOENIX: Saturday’s match can be followed online by clicking HERE for live stats.

ELON vs. EAST CAROLINA: In 11 matches to date with the Pirates, Elon has amassed a slight 6-5 advantage over East Carolina. The Phoenix won four straight matches from 2006-2010 before falling to the Pirates in 2012 in Greenville, N.C. ECU comes to Elon this season with a record of 16-6. This is also East Carolina’s regular season finale before the Conference USA Tournament next week.

SENIOR DAY: In a joint ceremony with the women’s tennis team, Elon will honor Silverman in the final match of his illustrious career at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. In his career, Silverman has pulled in many honors for his play. He was honored last season with the Southern Conference’s Player of the Year award. He also took home the conference’s Freshman of the Year award in 2011. The senior has also won six SoCon Player of the Week awards throughout his four years at Elon. That matches the program record set by Damon Gooch from 2006-2009. He has been named to the first-team All-SoCon in singles and doubles each of the last two years while earning second-team All-SoCon in doubles after his freshman year. Silverman earned a personal-best ranking of No. 21 in the nation last season while placing No. 22 in the country in doubles with partner Stefan Fortmann. Last season, Silverman was just the second Elon player to go to the NCAA Tournament and won his first round match against Baylor’s Julian Lenz before falling in the second round. To date, Silverman has won 59 dual singles matches, which sits five behind the program mark of 64, also set by Gooch in 2009.

In his senior year, Silverman has led the charge for the Phoenix playing at No. 1 singles and doubles all year. He has gone 14-4 in singles and went unscathed with a perfect 9-0 mark in conference play throughout the regular season. Though he struggled with Fortmann to start the season at No. 1 doubles, Silverman and #Jordan Kaufman# have gone 8-2 since being paired together earlier this season. In Fall 2013, Silverman picked up a monumental win over Duke’s Henrique Cunha, the No. 1 player in the country. He then helped the Phoenix clinch a big upset of the Blue Devils to start dual matches this season on January 17 when Elon topped No. 7 Duke, 4-3, in Durham, N.C.

“Cameron has been a vital part of our team’s success over the past four years,” said Elon head coach Michael Leonard. “I am so proud of not only what he has accomplished on the tennis court, but how he has evolved as a person. He has become a leader, a great teammate and a wonderful person to coach and be around. I thank him for all the fond memories. He will be missed!”

LOOKING BACK: Last time out on Wednesday, April 9, the Phoenix battled through a one hour, 43 minute rain delay on the way to beating Appalachian State to win the SoCon regular season title outright for the second season in a row. In the match, Silverman picked up a sweep on court No. 1 to finish a perfect 9-0 conference singles mark while Brian Kowalski clinched the match on court No. 4 with a 6-1, 6-3 win over Daniel Hoang. The win was Kowalski’s second big match-clinching victory this season, as the junior earned win win to clinch the upset of No. 7 Duke to start the season.

SOCON DOMINATION: Elon’s title marks the fifth regular season championship in the last nine years for the Phoenix. The perfect 9-0 conference mark is the second time Elon has accomplished the feat, the first time being in 2007 in Leonard’s third season at the helm of the Phoenix. Elon went on to win the SoCon Tournament that season and earn a berth to the NCAA Tournament. This season, the only match in which Elon did not score six point or more was against Wofford on Sunday, April 6. In its eight other SoCon matches, Elon won either 6-1 or 7-0. The Phoenix only lost six individual points in conference play this season.

PHOENIX IN THE POLLS: In the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national polls released today, April 8, the Phoenix checked in at No. 44 while Silverman individually sits at No. 35. Since the start of the season, Elon has jumped 20 spots in the rankings. Three weeks ago, Elon earned a program-best ranking of No. 39 in the country.

PLAYER OF THE MONTH: Fortmann was honored as the league’s Player of the Month last week, April 3, after posting a perfect 13-0 mark in both singles and doubles throughout the month of March. The junior started the month on No. 4 singles, but moved up to No. 2 as the month went along. Throughout those six matches, Fortmann did not drop a set. The duo of Fortmann and #Juan Madrid# did not drop more than five games in any doubles match after going undefeated for the month and only losing one doubles match since being paired with each other. Fortmann has continued his streak, as he has not dropped a singles or doubles match in three April outings.

SOCON PLAYERS OF THE WEEK: This season, the Southern Conference has honored eight players with the league’s Player of the Week award. Four of those awards have gone to Elon players—Silverman, Kaufman and Fortmann. Silverman was the first player to win the award this year on Feb. 18. The senior has picked up wins this season against Duke’s Jason Tahir, who was ranked No. 52 in the nation individually while Duke was No. 7, in Elon’s upset of the Blue Devils on Jan. 17 and Samford’s Elliot Barnwell on two separate occasions. Kaufman went a combined 4-0 in singles and doubles throughout the two matches against Brown and Chattanooga that led to the honor on March 4. Fortmann was named the Player of the Week March 11 after breezing through singles matches against Samford and Davidson, winning each match by a score of 6-2, 6-2. He followed that up with the award a week later with winning the award again after staying perfect in all matches played March 10-16.

KOWALSKI HONORED: Kowalski became the third Elon athlete throughout the 2013-2014 academic year to be named the Southern Conference Student-Athlete of the Week on Jan. 22. The honor came after Kowalski won the decisive match against No. 7 Duke, one that gave Elon the upset of the Blue Devils on Jan. 17. #Nathan Dean# of the men’s soccer team, #Sam Coffer# of the women’s basketball team and #Frida Jansaker# of the women’s tennis team are Elon’s three other athletes to earn the award.

FRIENDS OF JACLYN: On March 9, both the men’s and women’s tennis teams held Friends of Jaclyn Day at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center to raise awareness for pediatric brain tumors. A week later, a very special guest named Jake Ingham joined the Phoenix family when the 12-year old, signed a contract with the teams. To read about the event, click HERE.

LOOKING AHEAD: The Phoenix will head to Chattanooga, Tenn. next week as the SoCon Tournament commences on Wednesday, April 16. Elon, which earned the No. 1 seed in the tournament, will play its first match Thursday, April 17, at 8:30 a.m. against the winner of the 7/10 matchup on Wednesday. The final bracket for the tournament will be set this weekend when conference play concludes.