MT. PLEASANT, S.C. – When the alarms went off for the Elon men’s tennis team at 9 a.m. this morning, the Phoenix had plans to face The Citadel in the opening round of the 2012 Southern Conference Tournament at 2 p.m. Little did the team know that it would be a full 12 hours later before the Phoenix and Bulldogs squared off under the lights after rainy spring weather wreaked havoc on day one of tournament competition. The sixth-seeded Phoenix took care of business, shrugging off the rain delays and late night start to sweep the 11th-seeded Bulldogs, 4-0, and advance to the quarterfinals.
Barring any weather delays, Elon will challenge No. 3 Appalachian State at 3 p.m. on Friday afternoon at the College of Charleston Tennis Center. The Mountaineers took a 5-2 victory over the Phoenix in the regular season.
“It was good to see the guys get a win after a long day of waiting out bad weather,” commented Elon head coach Michael Leonard. “They came out ready to play and now will need to recover quickly to face a talented Appalachian State team tomorrow.”
The teams began the night with singles action because in tournament play the match ends after one team reaches four points. Southern Conference Freshman of the Year Stefan Fortmann made quick work of Josh Cook on court two, dropping only three games in a 6-2, 6-1 victory to put Elon on top, 1-0. Fortmann has won five consecutive matches.
Fellow rookie Jordan Kaufman was right behind him, turning early breaks into a 6-2, 6-2 victory over James Atkinson on court three.
While a battle was brewing at the top singles match, three more courts opened up and Elon’s number four, five and six players got started. Freshman Juan Madrid wasted little time putting the Phoenix on top 3-0, cruising to a 6-2, 6-3 decision against Peter Bleach at number five.
On court one, Elon’s Cameron Silverman and Citadel’s David Orces traded several breaks before needing a tiebreaker to determine set one. Orces came away with the 10-8 breaker to take the 7-6 set. The loss seemed to spark Silverman as the sophomore lost only three games over the next two sets to pick up the 6-7, 6-1, 6-2 match-clinching victory for the Phoenix.
Fortmann, Kaufman, Madrid and Silverman were all seeing their first career SoCon Tournament action. Elon has now won six of its last seven matches against The Citadel.