ELON, N.C. – Cameron Silverman of the Elon University men’s tennis team jumped two spots in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) national rankings released today, April 22, to No. 39 in the country. Elon as a team checked in at No. 54 in the country for the second week in a row.
Silverman’s advance comes after the senior went 3-0 in singles play to help Elon win its first Southern Conference Tournament championship since 2007 over the weekend in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Last week, Silverman topped Pavels Grigorjevs of Chattanooga, 6-1, 6-3, on Thursday, April 17, in the quarterfinals of the SoCon Tournament. A day later, the senior beat Sebastien King of Appalachian State 6-4, 6-1, to help Elon into the finals.
To finish the weekend, Silverman beat Adam Steryous of Furman, 6-1, 6-3, to help Elon clinch the SoCon Tournament title. Because of his efforts, he was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.
This season, Silverman has a 17-5 record. The senior also has 62 career singles victories to his name at Elon, which is two behind the program-record of 64. That mark was set by former standout Damon Gooch in 2009.
Earlier in the week, Silverman was named the SoCon Player of the Year for the second straight season. He is only the fifth player to win the award multiple times and the first player in the conference to earn it in back-to-back years since Or Dekel of College of Charleston in 2006 and 2007. The senior was also placed on the first-team all-SoCon singles and doubles team this season.
Elon’s SoCon Tournament victory clinched the conference’s automatic bid to next month’s NCAA Tournament. The draw for the tournament comes next Tuesday, April 29, and the tournament kicks off at various sites across the country on Friday, May 9.