ELON, N.C. – Second-seeded and 67th-ranked Elon held off sixth-seeded College of Charleston 4-2 in the semifinals of the 2009 Southern Conference Men's Tennis Championship Saturday afternoon. The Phoenix advances to the final, the program's third consecutive finals appearance, to take on top-seeded and 72nd-ranked Furman at 2:00 p.m. Sunday afternoon from the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on the Elon campus.
Elon (21-5) picked up the doubles points with wins at the second and third positions, both in close matches. The team of Chase Helpingstine and Oscar Podlewski topped Mickael Trintignac and Mickael Boyer 8-5 for the first win of the day at the #2 spot. At the #3 position, Alberto Rojas and Carlin Murray battled Omer Abramovich and Joe Nicolazzi for the clinching match, coming out on top 8-6 to give the Phoenix a 1-0 lead in the overall match.
Cody Stauffer McDowell gave the Phoenix a 2-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-2 win at #6 singles over Nicolazzi. Damon Gooch added a win for Elon with a 6-1, 6-1 decision over Abramovich at the #1 position.
The singles action heated up as three of the four remaining matches went to a third set. Charleston’s Tom Delme put the Cougars (11-14) on the board with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Helpingstine at #4. Trintignac cut the lead to one with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 win over Philip Nemec at #3 singles. Rojas pulled out a three-set victory to clinch the match for Elon, winning 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 over Boyer at the fifth position. The final match of the evening, which was unfinished, saw a three-set battle between Podlewski and Lukas Koncilia at #2 singles.
-- ELON --
