SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference announced today that Elon’s Damon Gooch and College of Charleston’s Omer Abramovich have been named the Men’s Tennis Co-Players of the Week for March 20.

A sophomore from Gauteng, South Africa, Gooch led Elon to two conference victories last week, going 2-0 at No. 1 singles and 1-1 at No. 1 doubles. He started the week with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph over UNC Greensboro’s Andrey Bubnov in the Phoenix's 7-0 win over the Spartans on March 13. 

Gooch then led Elon to a 4-3 victory over College of Charleston, which included a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 112 Or Deckel, last season's SoCon Player of the Year, at No. 1 singles. His lone loss of the week was against College of Charleston, an 8-2 doubles setback with teammate Mason Schermerhorn at No. 1 doubles. 

Now 10-3 in singles this spring, including a 3-1 start in conference action, Gooch has led the Phoenix to a 13-2 overall ledger and a 4-0 mark in league play. Elon enters this week's action ranked No. 44 nationally in the FILA Collegiate NCAA Division I Men's Tennis Rankings, down from No. 43 last week, but up from No. 51 the previous week and No. 57 when it debuted in the poll the week before that. 

Abramovich, a sophomore from Haifa, Israel, led the College of Charleston to a 3-1 week, including two conference wins, going 4-0 at No. 4 singles. He started the week with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Charleston Southern’s Steven Dean in a 5-2 Cougar victory on March 13. 

Abramovich then jumped into conference action with a 6-0, 6-4 win over Appalachian State’s Lee Floyd to give the Cougars a 5-2 win over ASU on March 15. He then picked up a 6-4, 6-7, 10-2 win over Sebastian Bredberg in a close 4-3 loss to Elon on March 17 before finishing the week with a 6-4, 6-2 win over UNCG’s Ian Conchar on March 18. He is 10-0 in singles matches this season. 

–ELON–