The Elon University women’s tennis team picked up its third victory in as many matches by defeating Radford University 7-0 Feb. 22 at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.
The Phoenix controlled play early on by picking up the doubles point with wins from its second and third pairings. On court No. 2, senior Frida Jansaker and junior Maria Camara Ruiz beat Meg Napolitano and Grace Sarver, 8-3, for the pairing’s third straight win. Senior Bryn Khoury and sophomore Taylor Casey also took care of business, taking down Radford’s Taylor Fay and Gisela Garcia, 8-1, on court No. 3 to clinch the doubles point.
Elon saw another switch at the top doubles pairing on this day, as junior Barbora Lazarova was inserted into the No. 1 pairing alongside senior Jordan Johnston. Johnston and Lazarova’s match went unfinished.
Jansaker suffered a minor injury during her singles match that forced her to sit out singles play. The injury to Jansaker, who plays at No. 2 singles, forced every Elon player besides No. 1 Johnston to move up one spot in the lineup. But the late lineup change would not faze the Phoenix.
Elon only lost one singles set on the afternoon and swept all six singles matches. Khoury kicked off singles play by sweeping both sets of her match, giving the Phoenix a 2-0 lead.
Freshman Tolley Rice stretched the Phoenix lead to 3-0 with a 6-0, 6-2 win on court No. 5 for her third straight singles win. A 6-4, 6-2 win from senior Viviana Stavreva on court No. 6 clinched the win for the Phoenix.
In the remaining matches, Johnston also picked up her third straight singles win on court No. 1, defeating Gemma Valls, 7-5, 6-0. Sophomore Taylor Casey and Lazarova also posted wins in their matches to seal the 7-0 Elon win.
The Phoenix is back in action Feb. 26 against the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The match is set for 2 p.m. at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. This will be Elon’s last match before opening Southern Conference play March 1 against Georgia Southern University.