Elon Women’s Tennis Travels to No. 2 UNC on Tuesday

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University women’s tennis team heads to Chapel Hill riding a three-match winning streak on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at 2 p.m. to face No. 2 North Carolina at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.

LAST TIME OUT
The Phoenix improved to 7-3, completing a perfect 3-0 homestand with a 6-1 victory over USC Upstate on Friday and a 5-2 win against Davidson on Saturday at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.

SERIES HISTORY
Tuesday will be the 14th time Elon and UNC have faced each other. North Carolina leads the all-time series 13-0. Last season, Elon opened the 2016 campain falling to the No. 4 Tar Heels, 6-1, on Jan. 10. The Tar Heels have been ranked in all 13 previous matchups. The highest-ranked North Carolina team Elon has faced was in 2014 when the Tar Heels had a No. 3 ranking.

This will be the second time the Phoenix has faced an ACC top-10 opponent this season. Elon took on No. 10 Duke and fell, 7-0, on Jan. 25.

NEWCOMERS
Elon welcomes a pair of freshmen – Alex Koniaev and Sofia Edo – to the team in 2017. Koniaev joined the team this past fall and Edo was a late addition in January. Knoiaev was rated a four-star recruit by the Tennis Recruiting Network and achieved her career-high national ranking of No. 73 in 2016. Edo comes from Argentina, where she won eight national tournaments at the junior level.

EARLY SUCCESS
Sofia Edo improved her singles record to 6-0 with a 6-2, 6-4 win against Davidson’s Samantha Armas at the No. 6 position. Maria Paraja is currently on a four-match winning streak in singles and Erica Braschi has won three straight in singles. Kirsten Ward and Suzanne Zenoni have been solid in doubles action with a 5-1 mark in dual match play. They have played three doubles matches at both the No. 2 and No. 3 positions.

HEAD COACH ELIZABETH ANDERSON
Elizabeth Anderson is entering her 13th season as head coach of the Phoenix. Anderson earned her first-ever year accolade, after she was named the 2016 CAA Coach of the Year. She has led Elon to five straight seasons of 14 or more wins and guided the program to its first NCAA Tournament in 2014.

SCOUTING NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina comes into the match with an 8-1 record. The Tar Heels dropped its first match of the season on Monday, Feb. 13, falling to No. 1 Florida, 4-2, in the final of the ITA Women’s Tennis Team Indoor National Championship. It was the third straight season that UNC has reached the Indoor National Championship final.

The Tar Heels have five singles players ranked in the ITA’s top-125. Sara Daavettila is the second-ranked player in the country, Hayley Carter has a No. 5 ranking, Jessie Aney is at No. 17, Alexa Graham is ranked No. 48 and Makenna Jones is ranked No. 60 in the rankings.

Also, doubles team of Carter and Aney are the second-ranked doubles team in the country, but have yet to play a doubles match in dual competition this season. No. 2 doubles duo of Cassandra Vazquez and Aney are ranked at No. 42 and are 2-2 overall this season.

UP NEXT
The Phoenix hits the road to take on UNCW on Saturday, Feb. 25, at 1 p.m.