ELON, N.C. – Elon swept its way through all nine bouts en route to a 7-0 Southern Conference men’s tennis triumph over Appalachian State Friday afternoon at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center, marking its seventh victory in eight matches.

The surging Phoenix (7-3 overall, 2-0 Southern Conference) improved to 5-0 at home and 7-0 against teams not ranked among the country’s top 40 squads this season. Last spring, Elon struggled to a 5-17 overall record (0-10 in league play).

In the final match, Gustaf Asplund (6-4) iced the shutout in stunning fashion at No. 4 singles. Down double match point 5-2 in the second set, Asplund came back to overcome Andrew Waters 5-7, 7-5, 10-5 to score the seventh Phoenix point.

In the other singles, No. 125 Damon Gooch (7-3) staved off Alex Probst 6-0, 5-7, 10-2 at No. 1, Anuwat Dalodom (4-1) dispatched Ryan Brookshaw 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2, Sebastian Bredberg (8-2) beat Dimitar Dimitrov 6-2, 7-5 at No. 3, Austin Fenn (5-5) upended Zack Williams 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5 and Kevin Colin (7-3) topped Robert Hogewood 6-3, 6-1 at No. 6.

In doubles action, the Gooch/Fenn team (5-3) defeated Brookshaw and Probst 8-5 at No.1, the Bredberg/Colin unit (4-3) knocked off Dimitrov and Waters 8-5 at No. 2 and the Dalodom/Asplund combination (4-2) bested Hogewood and Andrew Taylor 8-1 at No. 3.

Elon will again host Southern Conference competition in both men’s and women’s tennis Saturday afternoon at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. The Phoenix men’s squad will host The Citadel at noon while the Elon women’s team will face seven-time defending league champion Furman at 1 p.m.

The Mountaineers (2-4, 0-2) visit SoCon foe Georgia Southern in men’s tennis at 2:30 p.m. Sunday. The Appalachian State women’s squad returns to action with a trip to North Carolina A&T for a non-conference confrontation Thursday.

– ELON –

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