WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Elon University men’s tennis team concluded action at the Wake Forest Fall Invitational today, Oct. 14, at the Wake Forest Tennis Complex.
The doubles team of Cameron Silverman and Stefan Fortmann had an outstanding tournament for the Phoenix, as the duo defeated Wake Forest’s 17th-ranked team of David Hopkins and Amogh Prabhakar with a 9-7 decision in the championship match. Silverman and Fortman also topped the 57th-ranked doubles team of Chris Cooprider and Kosta Blank from UNCW, 8-6, earlier in the tournament.
Fortmann also performed well in singles action, as the reigning Southern Conference Freshman of the Year opened the tournament with a dominant 6-0, 6-1 victory over NC State’s Thomas Weigel. After dropping a decision to Duke’s Adam Lee, Fortmann would eventually bounce back and find himself in the seventh place match against UNCW’s Kaue Peirera.
Silverman placed fifth for the Phoenix in his singles bracket, claiming a pair of wins over two Southern Conference foes in the fifth-place bracket. Silverman handed UNCG’s Randy Phillips a 6-2, 6-3 decision before topping Davidson’s Nicky Kunz, 6-2, 6-1. In the opening round, Silverman topped Wake Forest’s Delcore, 6-3, 6-2.
After opening up the tournament with a hard-fought loss to Wake’s Prabhakar in the first round, rookie Robert Lindgren bounced back to advance all the way to the consolation final. Lindgren topped Ethan Dunbar from Richmond, 6-4, 7-6 (3), in the consolation round of eight to advance further. Lindgren moved on to the consolation finals after battling to a three-set win (4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4) against NC State’s Simon Norenius. But in the consolation final, Wake’s Anthony Delcore edged Lindgren in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1, as the rookie took fourth place.
Dan Sablik also registered an opening round win in straight sets over Norfolk State’s Kent Austin in the tournament, 6-4, 7-5, and went on to a seventh place finish in his flight.
After an opening round setback, Elon’s Chris Geaslen went on to back-to-back wins in singles to advance all the way to the consolation finals in his flight. Geaslen beat Longwood’s Steed Johnson in three sets (7-6(0), 1-6, 6-2) before claiming a 7-5, 6-2 victory over East Tennessee State’s Connor Knox. Geaslen took fourth in his flight after dropping a tough three-set result to Norfolk State’s Samuel Lemberger, 6-3, 4-6, 4-6.
The Phoenix concludes its fall season next week with the ITA Carolina Regional in Cary, N.C. Play begins on Thursday, Oct. 18 and runs until Sunday, Oct. 21.