Elon Women’s Tennis Sweeps Appalachian State in Midweek Matchup

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University women’s tennis battled through the heat and earned a 7-0 sweep of Appalachian State on Wednesday, March 12, at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.

FINAL RESULTS

The Phoenix trailed in all three doubles matches at one point before fighting back to beat the Mountaineers on a beautiful spring afternoon. Hard fought efforts in singles and doubles from Olivia Lucas and Erica Braschi, as well a perfect set from freshmen Alex Koniaev helped the Phoenix secure the win.

HIGHLIGHTS
Lucas and Braschi started things off in doubles play with a 6-1 win on court two. The pair continued their tremendous season, currently leading the team with 13 doubles wins on the year. On court one, Natalia Janowicz and Maria Paraja fell victim to the hot hands of Gabrielle Wreder and Megan Mullen, who won their second straight doubles match for the Mountaineers, 6-2. One court three, Suzanne Zenoni and Kristen Ward won their match 6-3, clinching the doubles point and a 1-0 lead for Elon.

In singles play, Lucas stayed hot with a 6-1, 6-0 win on court two to put the Phoenix up 2-0. Ward followed suit after fighting back from a 4-3 first set deficit to win 6-4, 6-2 and bring the Phoenix within in one point of clinching the match.

Zenoni secured the win on court three with a 6-4, 6-4 victory after fighting back from a first set deficit of her own against Melissa Machado. On court one Braschi kept things interesting in a close 6-4 first set, but won the second set 6-0 to extend the Elon lead to 5-0.

Koniaev did her thing on court six with a 6-0 first set sweep. She followed by winning her second set 6-4 to pull the Phoenix within one victory of the sweep, which would be finalized by Paraja on court five and her 6-4, 6-5 victory.

NOTES
– The Phoenix improves to 12-1 at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center this season heading into its season finale on Saturday at home against James Madison.
– Erica Braschi picked up her 44th-career dual match singles win, moving her into 8th on the program’s all-time Division I era record book.
– Braschi has now won a team-best five straight singles matches.

UP NEXT
The Phoenix close out the regular season at home on Saturday, April 15, at 11 a.m. against the Dukes of James Madison.