Elon Men’s Tennis Continues Homestand Sunday Against North Florida

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men’s tennis team looks to continue its home success when it hosts North Florida on Sunday, March 5, at 12:30 p.m. at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.

LIVE SCORING

The match was originally scheduled for 11 a.m. but was moved to 12:30 p.m. The Phoenix is a perfect 5-0 this season at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.

LAST TIME OUT
Elon improved to 6-7 on the season with a 6-1 victory against Campbell on Thursday, March 2. The Phoenix swept doubles play and cruised through singles to hand the Camels their second loss of the season. Jacob Bicknell won a 6-1, 6-2 decision at No. 6 singles in his collegiate debut.

SERIES HISTORY
Elon is 2-2 against North Florida dating back to 2009. The Phoenix last faced North Florida in 2012, falling 7-0 to the 50th-ranked Ospreys.

SCOUTING NORTH FLORIDA
The Ospreys are 6-5 this season and 4-4 on the road. North Florida, which has been ranked as high as 49th this season, most recently defeated East Tennessee State 4-2 on Friday, March 3.

North Florida boasts a pair of singles players ranked in the top 125 by the ITA. Jack Findel-Hawkins is currently ranked 64th and Jefta Kicic checks in at No. 108. Findel-Hawkins and doubles partner Lasse Muscheites are ranked as the No. 3 doubles duo in the nation.

BACK TO BACK
Petar Tomic and Chris Humphreys won CAA Doubles Team of the Week honor in back-to-back weeks on Feb. 15 and Feb. 22. During a strong two weeks from the team, the two went 4-0 at Nos. 1 and 2. Earlier this season on Feb. 15, Elon swept the weekly awards with Felipe Sarrasague earning CAA Player of the Week.

ANOTHER LOOK AT 2016
The Phoenix posted a 17-6 record throughout 2016, which included a 12-3 mark in matches played at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. After losing three of the team’s first five matches of the season to No. 13 Duke, No. 40 NC State and No. 1 Virginia, Elon went 14-2 in its final 16 regular-season matches. The run included a seven-match winning streak from March 11 to April 3 and was capped with a win over No. 62 William & Mary. Elon dropped a 4-3 decision in the semifinals of the CAA Tournament to College of Charleston to finish the season.

RISING STARS
True freshmen played a big role in Elon’s 2016 success. Taylor Foote (1), Salvador Mijares (13), Felipe Osses-Konig (6), Mario Paccini (13) and Felipe Sarrasague (15) combined for 48 of the team’s 86 singles wins (56 percent) over the course of 2016. Sarrasague and senior Robert Lindgren led Elon with a team-high 15 dual-match singles wins.

HEAD COACH MICHAEL LEONARD
Winner of the 2016 CAA Coach of the Year award, Michael Leonard is now in his 13th season as Elon’s director of tennis and head men’s tennis coach. Leonard is a five-time Southern Conference Coach of the Year and has led Elon to five conference championships and two NCAA Tournament appearances, the last coming in 2014. He has won 189 matches to date as the leader of the Phoenix.

NEXT TIME OUT
Following the North Florida contest, three matches will remain on Elon’s five-match homestand. Next up for the Phoenix is a 3 p.m. match against Charlotte on Friday, March 10, at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.