Elon’s Silverman Earns Bid to NCAA Men’s Tennis Singles Tournament

ELON, N.C. – For the second year in a row, #Cameron Silverman# of the Elon University men’s tennis team has received a bid to the 2014 NCAA Singles Tournament Championship, as announced by the NCAA today, April 30.

The tournament starts May 21, the day after the team championship tournament ends, and will be held at the University of Georgia in Athens, Ga. Silverman’s opponent will not be determined until the day before the tournament begins.

Silverman reached the tournament by virtue of the automatic bid for the Southern Conference. The Southern Conference got an automatic bid because the conference had more than one eligible singles player ranked in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Top 125.

Currently, Silverman is ranked No. 39 in the ITA national polls and holds a 17-5 record while going 12-0 in SoCon play. The senior also earned SoCon Player of the Year for the second season in a row. The second honor made him the first player to win the award in back-to-back years since Or Dekel of College of Charleston did in 2006 and 2007.

Silverman also helped Elon to the SoCon regular season and Tournament championship sweep for the first time since 2007. The regular season title is the third for Silverman since arriving at Elon for the 2011 season.

Winning in clutch moments at the conference tournament, Silverman was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. The senior went 3-0 in the tournament to help Elon earn the conference’s automatic bid to the team tournament, which will start May 9 and conclude May 20 in Athens.

With 62 wins to his name since coming to Elon, Silverman sits two singles wins behind tying the program record of 64, which was set in 2009 by former standout Damon Gooch. With Elon in the team championship, Silverman is guaranteed at least two more matches before his career comes to an end and now has the chance to tie or break the record.

Yesterday, Elon earned the No. 3 seed in the Durham, N.C. pod of the team championship and will take on second-seeded Tennessee on Saturday, May 10, at 9 a.m. The winner of that match will take on the winner of No. 1 Duke and No. 4 Winthrop on Sunday, May 11, in Durham. Elon has already defeated both of those teams this season by the score of 4-3.