Agate

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- With two of its top three players battling illness, the Elon men's tennis squad put up a valiant fight against 69th-ranked Georgia State before falling 6-1 at the USC Indoor Tennis Complex.

The loss dropped the Phoenix to 0-2 on the year while the Panthers improved to 3-0.

The match began with a tightly contested battle for the doubles point.  Elon's Jordan Kaufman and Andrew Prince won at number two, defeating Sofiane Chevallier and Ismael Lahlou by an 8-5 score.  Georgia State won at number three to force the point to be decided by the number one doubles tandems.

Cameron Silverman and Eric Turner competed hard against Matias Hatem and Victor Valente before the ill pair fell by an 8-6 score, giving the Panthers a 1-0 edge.

Elon's lone point of the match came at number two singles where Stefan Fortmann handed Thomas Cook a loss in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.

Fighting illness, Silverman took Valente to three sets before falling 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 at the top singles spot.  Turner was forced to retire in the first set at number three due to his illness.

At number six, Carlos Arboleda also went three sets before being handed a 6-1, 1-6, 10-3 setback to Lucas Santana.

The Phoenix will next play on Thursday, Feb. 3 when it opens its home slate against Tennessee Tech at 1:30 p.m. at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.