Elon Women’s Tennis Phoenix Earns First Road Win at UNCW

WILMINGTON, N.C. – The Elon University women’s tennis team earned its first road win of the season with a 5-2 victory against UNC Wilmington on Saturday, Feb. 25, at the UNCW Tennis Courts.

FINAL RESULTS

“The team competed well today against a very strong UNCW team,” Elon head coach Elizabeth Anderson said. “It was very windy today and I’m very proud of they way the team battled through adverse conditions.”

Elon improved to 8-4 with the win, while UNCW dropped to 4-2 with the loss. The Phoenix is now 2-1 this season against opponents from the Colonial Athletic Association.

The Highlights
The Phoenix won the doubles point over the Seahawks to take a 1-0 lead into singles action. Elon’s top doubles pairing of Alex Koniaev and Maria Paraja clinched the point with a 7-5 victory on court No. 1.

The Phoenix and Seahawks split the other two doubles matches. Erica Braschi and Olivia Lucas won 6-2 on court No. 3 against Laura Gomez and Celeste Matute, the duo’s fifth win of the season. Braschi and Lucas’ five wins are tied for the best mark of any Phoenix doubles team.

Lucas’ 6-2, 6-0 singles victory on court No. 3 against Annika Sillanpaa gave Elon a 2-0 lead. UNCW’s Madara Straume followed with a win on the top singles court to make it 2-1.

Elon’s lead stood at 3-1 after Kirsten Ward defeated Laura Gomez 6-2, 6-4 on court No. 5. After the Seahawks’ Sabrina Barisano won on court No. 6, Suzanne Zenoni clinched the match for Elon with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 victory at the No. 2 position.

Paraja went on to win in a third set super-tiebreaker over the Seahawks’ Xandra Fougner to tally Elon’s fifth and final point.

Up Next
Elon next heads to Virginia for a pair of matches against Richmond and VCU. The Phoenix will face Richmond on Friday, March 3, at 2 p.m. before taking on VCU at 10 a.m. on Saturday, March 4.