After capturing its second straight regular season title, the Elon men’s tennis team claimed a number of Southern Conference awards on Monday, April 14. Senior Cameron Silverman claimed his second straight SoCon Player of the Title, while head coach Michael Leonard also claimed his second straight Coach of the Year title.
Silverman helped the Phoenix to an undefeated record in conference play, in which he did not lose a match in singles play. Silverman finished the regular season with a 14-5 record overall, including a three-set win over Duke University’s Jason Tahir in Elon’s upset of then No. 7 ranked Blue Devils. Silverman has found himself near the top of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings and currently sits at No. 35 in the nation.
Silverman became just the fifth player in SoCon history to win the Player of the Year award twice and the first to win it back-to-back since College of Charleston’s Or Dekel won consecutively in 2006 and 2007.
Silverman was named to the first-team all-SoCon alongside Phoenix junior Stefan Fortmann. Silverman was also named to first-team all-SoCon doubles team with his partner junior Jordan Kaufman.
With his second straight Coach of the Year honors, Coach Leonard has now won the award five times in his 10 seasons with the Phoenix. This marks the second time in his career Leonard has won back-to-back Coach of the Year honors.
Leonard led Elon to a 16-4 record in 2014, including an unblemished record in conference play. Leonard has now the Phoenix to two undefeated conference seasons, with the first coming in 2007.
The Phoenix will head to Chattanooga, Tenn. for the Southern Conference tournament where it will be the top seed. Elon will play its quarterfinal matchup at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, April 17 where it will face the winner of No. 8 Davidson College and No. 9 University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.