The Elon University women’s tennis team hosted two different North Carolina schools on Saturday, but the end result was the same in both matches as the Phoenix first swept North Carolina Central University, then did the same to North Carolina Wesleyan College.
As was the case in both outings, the Phoenix swept the opening doubles matches. First against N.C. Central, the duo of juniors Jordan Johnston and Frida Jansaker led the way at No. 1 doubles on the way to the Phoenix picking up the doubles point. It was the fourth straight doubles win for the tandem.
While Johnston breezed through her No. 1 singles match against senior Olesya Palko, No. 2 Jansaker and No. 3 Stavreva struggled, but the two ultimately prevailed. Elon’s depth went on display though in the No. 4 through No. 6 matches though, only allowing the Eagles to win three games of the 39 played.
In the second match against North Carolina Wesleyan, the top pair rested while fellow junior Viviana Stavreva and freshman Taylor Casey took their spot at No. 1 doubles. Elon didn’t miss a beat, sweeping the three Battling Bishops’ pairs.
The Phoenix was even more dominant in the singles matches even without their top two players in Johnston and Jansaker. Junior Bryn Khoury led the way at No. 1 singles as the Phoenix as a team only dropped one game throughout the course of both the singles and doubles matches.
After being dismantled by the No. 8 team in the country, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, on Jan. 23, the Phoenix have rattled off five straight victories leading into next weekend’s matches.
Elon will stay home to host two more opponents on Saturday, Feb. 16 in the University of South Carolina – Upstate and North Carolina A&T University.