No. 50 North Florida Tops Elon Men¹s Tennis

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Elon men’s tennis team stepped away from Southern Conference play on Wednesday afternoon, dropping a 7-0 decision to the 50th-ranked North Florida Ospreys at UNF Tennis Complex. The Phoenix fell to 7-9 on the year while the host Ospreys improved to 11-5 overall.

North Florida took the early 1-0 lead after winning three competitive doubles matches, beginning with an 8-5 win on court three as Leonardo Nahar and Graham Edgar defeated freshmen Dan Sablik and Christopher Geaslen. At number one, Daniel Sotomarino and Norbert Nemcsek clinched the point with an 8-4 victory against Elon’s Cameron Silverman and Eric Turner. Phoenix rookies Stefan Fortmann and Jordan Kaufman dropped an 8-5 decision to Moritz Buerchner and Pedro Davisson at number two.

Elon played with an altered singles lineup due to injuries with Kaufman moving into the number three spot for only the third time all season. After North Florida earned wins on courts four and five, Kaufman gave Nemcsek all he could handle in the second set but eventually lost in a tiebreaker, 6-3, 7-6 (3), and the Ospreys clinched the match.

One of the tightest matches of the afternoon came at number two, where Fortmann and Sotomarino battled out every point and neither would give up the break. Sotomarino eventually pulled out the 7-6 (6), 7-5 victory, giving Fortmann only his fourth dual loss of the year.

Sablik and Timo Kranz needed three sets to determine a winner, with Kranz ultimately giving North Florida the 6-0 advantage with his 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 result at number six. The top singles match proved entertaining as well, as Buerchner used a victory in the super tiebreaker to top Silverman, 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (6).

Elon will return home and have a weeklong break before hosting Appalachian State on Wednesday, March 28 at 2:30 p.m.