Elon Men’s Tennis Stifles Bears Comeback Attempt

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Elon University men’s tennis team, ranked No. 40 in the country, got back in the win column today, Feb. 28, with a 4-3 win at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center against Brown University.

Though hobbled after taking a nasty fall midway through the third set, Stefan Fortmann held on to beat William Spector, 6-4, 2-6, 6-4, on court No. 4 to clinch the match for the Phoenix. The final game between the two went back and forth with multiple deuce points until Fortmann finally broke through for the win.

Cameron Silverman, ranked No. 26 in the country, and Jordan Kaufman both won their respective singles matches on court Nos. 1 and 5 to give the Phoenix a 3-0 lead. The pair also won at No. 1 doubles, 8-5, by earning two consecutive breaks of Justin To and Lucas Da Silveira to clinch the doubles point for Elon after the two sides split the first two matches.

Prior to Fortmann locking up the match, Brown had come back from a 3-0 deficit with singles wins on court Nos. 2, 3 and 6. All three Elon players in their respective matches — Robert Lindgren, Juan Madrid and Brian Kowalski — dropped their first set and had to rally to force third sets. Lindgren was the first of the trio to fall with a 3-6, 6-4, 2-6 loss on court No. 2, then Madrid lost 3-6, 6-7 (7-3), 6-2.

Brown came even with the Phoenix when Kowalski fell in a tightly-contested third set tiebreaker to ultimately lose 1-6, 6-3, 6-7 (8-6).

Though the Phoenix won the doubles point, it didn’t come easily. Fortmann and Madrid were quickly dispatched on Gregory Garcia and Daniel Hirschberg on court No. 3 before Lindgren and Kowalski evened things with an 8-4 win on court No. 2. The duo needed two breaks late in the match to keep Brown from clinching the doubles point without giving Silverman and Kaufman the chance to win it.

Elon turns around quickly with a 12 p.m. match tomorrow, March 1, against Southern Conference opponent Chattanooga at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. Both the men’s and women’s teams are hosting the Friends of Jaclyn Foundation tomorrow to raise money for pediatric brain tumors. Donations to the cause to help the teams reach their goal of $300 this weekend can be made here.