No. 60 Elon Beats Chattanooga for 14th-Straight SoCon Win

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – No. 60 Elon claimed two of the three doubles bouts and then captured five of the six singles matches to post a 6-1 Southern Conference men’s tennis victory at Chattanooga to open league play Saturday afternoon at the Champion’s Club.

The Mocs (8-2 overall, 0-1 SoCon) lost for the first time in eight matches while the two-time defending league champion Phoenix (6-3 overall, 1-0 SoCon) extended its winning streak to 14 consecutive conference regular-season contests, dating back to the last four matches of the 2006 campaign prior to a perfect 9-0 SoCon showing in 2007.

“We played a tough Chattanooga team,” Elon coach Michael Leonard said. “We are excited to start conference play and get a win. We have a young team and we are getting better and better all of the time.”

Alberto Rojas and Mason Schermerhorn turned back Badr Bouabdellah and Pavel Vostrikov 8-4 at No. 2 and Chase Helpingstine and Oscar Podlewski held off Hasan Hamadeh and Rick van de Bovenkamp 8-5 at No. 3 to secure the doubles point for Elon. Chattanooga picked up a doubles win at No. 1 when Razvan Axente and Peter Sauska outlasted Damon Gooch and Philip Nemec 8-7 (7-4).

The Phoenix then received five-straight victories on the singles scene – Nemec (over van de Bovenkamp 6-1, 6-1 at No. 5), Helpingstine (over Hamadeh 6-1, 6-2 at No. 6), Gooch (over Bouabdellah 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1), Rojas (over Vostrikov 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4) and Schermerhorn (over Sauska 6-4, 7-5 at No. 3). The Mocs scored at No. 2 when Axente edged Podlewski 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 10-8.

Riding an active 27-match winning streak on its home courts dating back to the 2005 campaign, Elon will begin a week of SoCon action at home when Appalachian State visits the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center at 2 p.m. Tuesday. Chattanooga hosts Mercer at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

–ELON–

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