Elon’s Silverman, Leonard Honored With ITA Men’s Tennis Awards

ELON, N.C. – Cameron Silverman, a senior on the Elon University men’s tennis team, and head coach Michael Leonard were honored today, May 13, by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) with the Senior Player of the Year award and the Coach of the Year award for the Carolina region.

Silverman picked up the award after going 17-5 this season. In 12 Southern Conference matches, the senior went 12-0 and earned his second SoCon Player of the Year award in a row. Silverman was also named to the first-team all-conference squad in singles and doubles on April 14 before winning the SoCon Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award while helping Elon to its second SoCon title and first since 2007.

Leonard earned Coach of the Year for the Carolina region after guiding Elon to a 19-5 record and a sweep of the SoCon regular season and conference tournament championships. Leonard was also named the conference’s Coach of the Year for the second year in a row and the fifth time in 10 seasons at Elon. The 12-0 mark in SoCon play this year marks the second time Leonard has guided Elon to a perfect conference record, the first of which was in 2007.

While Elon was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament on Saturday, May 10, with a loss to the Tennessee Volunteers, Silverman earned a bid to the NCAA Singles Championship in Athens, Ga. The tournament is scheduled to start on May 21 after the team championship concludes the day before. Silverman will learn his opponent for the first round the day before the tournament starts.

In his career at Elon, Silverman has posted 62 singles wins, most of which have come from the No. 1 spot. With two wins in the singles tournament next week, Silverman will tie the program record for most dual singles wins by an Elon player. The mark of 64 was set in 2009 by former standout Damon Gooch.