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(08/26/15 4:15pm)
Elon University’s athletic department acted swiftly to appoint a new men’s soccer head coach following the resignation of Darren Powell in April 2014. Director of Athletics Dave Blank announced the hiring of Powell’s former assistant Chris Little just 26 days after Powell’s resignation.
(08/26/15 2:00am)
For the past three seasons, former Elon University men’s soccer goalkeeper Nathan Dean ’15 played all but five minutes of action in net for the Phoenix. After starting 11 matches in his freshman year, Dean became the rock at the back of Elon’s defense starting in each of the team’s 64 matches from 2012-14.
(08/26/15 2:45pm)
The Elon University men’s soccer team was one point clear atop the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) standings entering their regular season finale against the University of Delaware. Two first half goals sunk the Phoenix and the team left 2-1 losers, dropping them to fourth in the standings and eliminating the chance to host the conference tournament.
(05/07/15 3:30pm)
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(04/22/15 6:20pm)
The Elon University men’s tennis team’s season may have ended before it ever started. The 2015 Phoenix never gained any momentum and was often stuck looking for answers.
“We certainly struggled this year,” said head coach Michael Leonard. “We never got over that hump.”
The Phoenix was eliminated from the Colonial Athletic Association Men’s Tennis Championship in the semifinals to host College of William & Mary 4-1 on Saturday, April 18, and ended its season with a record of 10-13.
“That doubles point ended up being really crucial,” Leonard said.
Elon won the No. 1 doubles match, while William & Mary earned a victory at No. 3 doubles, leaving it all down to senior Jordan Kaufman and sophomore Chris Humphreys at No. 2 doubles.
Trailing 7-6 at the end of the match, Kaufman and Humphreys held serve, fighting off several match points to force a tiebreaker. The Phoenix duo looked to have the momentum when they jumped out to a 6-2 lead and had match points of their own. But the Tribe came back on their home court to escape with a tiebreak victory and the doubles point.
“Doubles was a good summary of how the whole day would turn out,” said senior and CAA Player of the Year Stefan Fortmann. “That definitely took away some of the energy into the singles because we knew how important the doubles point would be.”
The Phoenix failed to start fast in singles play, dropping four of the six opening sets.
“[William & Mary] came out with more energy and were better than us early on,” Leonard said.
Junior Robert Lindgren fought back from trailing 1-5 to win his first set 7-5 and it appeared Elon was getting back into the match. But it was too little too late for the Phoenix, as Humphreys fell in three sets at the No. 6 position to provide the knockout blow to Elon’s season.
“They had some bigger guys than us with a little bigger serves and we weren’t able to take control of some points we needed,” Leonard said.
A victory for Elon would have not only put the Phoenix in its third straight conference championship match, but it would have also bucked some concerning trends from the 2015 season. Defeating William & Mary would have been just the fifth time all year Elon followed up a win with another win. The Phoenix came into the matchup with William & Mary after back-to-back wins. The only time Elon won three in a row was when it beat Campbell University Feb. 11 and North Carolina A&T and Presbyterian College Feb. 14.
Some players received outside recognition for their performances during this streak.
Fortmann said with the way the season was going, he never thought about individual accolades. Instead, he made sure he and his teammates were in a position to win each match.
Elon also took home other yearly honors. Kaufman was named to the first-team All-CAA in singles alongside Fortmann.
Senior Dan Sablik was named on the CAA All-Academic Team. Fortmann and his doubles partner Kowalski received All-CAA honors.
With six seniors leaving the team following the season, a new era of Elon men’s tennis is on the horizon. Fortmann said he thinks the struggles this season can be a rallying cry for next season.
“As a competitor, losing a close match in the tournament should motivate you for the next year,” he said.
Fortmann found himself in a similar season in his freshman year where the team limped to a 9-15 record. The next two seasons, Elon won a pair of regular season Southern Conference regular season titles and a conference tournament championship in 2014. Fortmann said that while this season was much better than the 2012 campaign, he hopes it can have a similar effect moving forward.
“You’d hope to see this loss motivate the guys who are staying behind to follow some of the things we did over the years,” he said.
(04/22/15 6:09pm)
The No. 3 Elon University women’s tennis team took an early exit from the Colonial Athletic Association Women’s Tennis Tournament after losing 4-1 in the semifinals to No. 2 College of Charleston in Williamsburg, Virginia.
“In the end, it didn’t work out,” senior Barbora Lazarova said. “I’m still so proud of everyone and everyone left it all on the court. Ultimately that’s all that matters.”
The Phoenix fell behind early, losing the doubles point with losses at the top two positions. College of Charleston then carried its momentum into singles action, winning at the No. 5, No. 6 and No. 1 positions to take the match.
Lazarova earned Elon’s only point on the day with a win at No. 3 singles. The 6-2, 6-4 straight sets victory was Lazarova’s last match donning the maroon and gold, and she hoped the team would make a comeback. The thought of losing did not enter her mind.
“I was thinking it was not going to be my last match and [we’d] still have a couple more, hopefully,” she said. “You want to do the best for your teammates. You want to win for them. You want to win so we can keep going and make everyone else proud.”
The Bratislava, Slovakia, native went an impressive 14-7 in the spring of her senior campaign, including a pair of wins in this season’s conference tournament.
“I always get really excited for the tournament, especially the end,” she said. “That’s where it all comes down to and what we’ve been working toward our whole entire year.”
Head coach Elizabeth Anderson said a slow start may have left the Phoenix with too much ground to make up.
“We definitely could have started quicker,” Anderson said. “We could have elevated our games a little bit faster.”
Anderson said she was proud of her team’s performance over the weekend and across the entire season despite the disappointing ending.
“We accomplished a lot this year, and we have to put everything in perspective,” she said.
The Phoenix was quite young with six freshmen on the roster — five of them earned significant playing time. This season, Elon freshmen accounted for about 60 percent of the team’s total wins by capturing 48 of the team’s 82 singles victories.
Freshman Erica Braschi was second on the team in singles victories with 12 wins and went 15-1 with her partner junior Taylor Casey at No. 3 doubles.
Freshman Kamilla Beisenova also recorded double-digit singles victories by going 10-6 on the season. Half of those victories came from the No. 5 position.
With so many matches under their belt from the start of their careers, the freshmen had plenty of experience entering the conference tournament hosted by College of William & Mary.
The Phoenix blanked Towson University 4-0 in the quarterfinals, and freshmen were responsible for three out of the four points.
The Phoenix swept the doubles portion of the match, in which Braschi earned another win with Casey at No. 3 doubles and Elon freshmen Olivia Lucas and Bridget Liddell defeated Towson senior Ayana Dow and freshman Lucy Williams 8-4 at No. 2 doubles. In singles play, Braschi and Ward picked up wins at No. 4 and No. 1 singles, respectively.
While the freshmen shined against Towson, Lazarova said the team’s youth was a disadvantage against College of Charleston.
“I think [losing] came down to the fact [that] we are a team of mostly freshmen,” Lazarova said. “Charleston was way more experienced than we were.”
The loss meant the Phoenix was unable to avenge an earlier loss to the Cougars this season. On April 10, they overcame a 3-1 deficit to deliver a 4-3 loss to Elon at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.
College of Charleston led by the same score during the rematch but didn’t make the same mistake as Elon did eight days earlier. Senior Samantha Maddox edged freshman Kirsten Ward at the No. 1 position 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to end Elon’s season.
Lazarova said the conference tournament will provide some of the young Phoenix players with insight going into the next season.
“They’ve never faced something like this before,” she said. “They have a lot to learn from this tournament.”
According to Anderson, experience from all of this season’s matches will motivate the team to succeed next season.
“Now that they have a little bit more experience I think we’re only going to be better in the future,” Anderson said.
Next year, Casey will be given the task of leading the young, more experienced Elon squad. The Duluth, Georgia, native went 11-6 in her junior season. Anderson thinks Casey can provide the needed leadership to younger players next year.
“She’s one of our hardest workers,” Anderson said. “She’s been working a lot and we’ve been talking to her more this year about leadership and I think when it comes to next year, we’ll continue to see her grow in that role.”
Elon wraps up its season with a 15-8 overall record and finishes above .500 for its sixth consecutive season.
(04/19/15 8:59am)
Though it was looking for its second straight conference tournament championship, the Elon University men’s tennis team were eliminated in the Colonial Athletic Association semifinals by the College of William & Mary.
(04/19/15 8:36am)
The Elon University women’s tennis team was eliminated from the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament following a 4-1 loss to the College of Charleston Saturday.
(04/18/15 5:13am)
Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year senior Stefan Fortmann led the Elon University men’s tennis team past Drexel University in Friday's CAA tournament quarterfinals.
(04/18/15 5:02am)
The Elon University women’s tennis team shut out No. 6 Towson University 4-0 in the quarterfinals of the Colonial Athletic Association Tournament on Friday, April 17.
(04/16/15 8:35pm)
It’s hard to believe a team that won a conference tournament championship last season and followed it up with a 14-7 record this year would be flying under the radar, but that’s the case for the Elon University women’s tennis team.
(04/12/15 12:42am)
The Elon University women’s tennis team was victorious on Senior Day, defeating North Carolina Central University 6-1.
(04/12/15 12:10am)
The Elon University men’s tennis team closed out the regular season in style with a 6-1 win against East Carolina University and swept the top five singles positions.
(04/11/15 1:59am)
The Elon University women’s tennis team allowed three unanswered points to lose 4-3 to close its match against the College of Charleston.
(04/09/15 4:07am)
The Elon University men’s tennis team dropped its second straight match on Wednesday after losing 4-3 to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The doubles game proved to be the difference as the two teams split the singles matches three apiece.
(04/08/15 3:00am)
Five singles wins helped lead the Elon University women’s tennis team to a 6-1 win against Davidson College at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center in Greensboro, North Carolina.
(04/05/15 1:20am)
It was a difficult Senior Day for the Elon University men’s tennis team as it lost 5-2 to in-state rivals University of North Carolina at Charlotte today.
(04/04/15 2:46pm)
The Elon University women’s tennis team’s seven-match winning streak ended Friday after a 4-3 loss to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte 49ers. The 49ers held serve at the Halton Wagner Tennis Center as they extended their own winning streak to six.
(04/03/15 4:16am)
The Elon University men’s tennis team defeated Davidson College 4-3 on Thursday to capture its 12th straight victory over its in-state rival.
(04/02/15 4:02pm)
With a seven-match winning streak and 11 wins in its last 12 matches, the Elon University women’s tennis team is peaking at the final stretch of the season.