Agate

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – It came down to the wire, but the Elon University men’s tennis closed out the Middle Tennessee State University Shootout with a 4-3 win over South Alabama on Sunday, March 31. The 72nd-ranked Phoenix improves to 13-5 with the victory, the team’s ninth in its last ten matches.
 
“I’m really proud of the resilience our guys showed today,” said Phoenix head coach Michael Leonard. “We were up 3-1 in singles and after losing the last two matches we regrouped and came out aggressive in doubles to get a win over a strong South Alabama team.”
 
Tied at 3-all after singles action, the match went to doubles to decide the fourth and final point.
 
The 34th-ranked tandem of Cameron Silverman and Stefan Fortmann pushed the Phoenix halfway to victory, topping Daniel Leitner and Gerhar Gruindelingh at No. 1, 8-3.
 
After South Alabama evened things up at No. 2 doubles with a 9-7 decision, Elon’s No. 3 duo of Juan Madrid and Jordan Kaufman provided the match-winning point with a hard-fought 8-6 win versus Juan Troglia and Cody Hall.
 
Earlier in singles, Fortmann won in straight sets versus Alex Bernard, 6-2, 6-0, to give Elon a 1-0 lead.
 
Robert Lindgren grinded out a win at No. 3 against Gruindelingh, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, to extend the maroon and gold’s advantage to 2-0.
 
After a win by South Alabama at No. 1 to pull within one, 2-1, Kaufman gave his team a 3-1 edge at No. 4 singles. Kaufman topped Blake Gregor, 6-7 (6-8), 6-2, 6-3, for the win.
 
But South Alabama stormed back in singles, taking the next two matches to even it up at 3-all and force a doubles action to decide the match.
 
The Phoenix regrouped and came out strong, winning two out of three to secure the win.
 
Elon returns to action on April 4 when it heads to Greensboro, N.C., to face UNCG.