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Championship Point

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. – The Elon University women's tennis team won its first championship of any kind since joining Division I in 2000 by winning the Southern Conference Tournament Sunday, April 19, in upsetting the second-seeded Samford Bulldogs at the Champions Club.
 
Maria Camara Ruiz clinched the championship for the Phoenix with a win on court No. 5 over Emily Mallory. The junior worked through a 6-1 loss in the first set to come back and win the second and third sets to clinch the match with a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
 
"I'm so proud of this team for how they played and carried themselves throughout this entire tournament and season," said Elon head coach Elizabeth Anderson. "There were some tough points throughout the year but we just believed in ourselves and that made the difference in being able to bring it all together and pull this out at the very end.
 
"The support from the fans that made the trip here and from the men's team, it really made a difference as well for us and we're so thankful for it. I'm just so happy for this team and I'm really happy for the three seniors to be able to leave here with a SoCon Tournament championship now with the chance to play in the NCAA Tournament."
 
The title marks Elon's first regular season or tournament championship in Division I action and next month's NCAA Tournament appearance will be the first in program-history for the Phoenix. Elon's NCAA Tournament draw will be announced on April 29.
 
Elon opened the afternoon by pulling out the doubles point thanks to a win on court No. 2 from Camara Ruiz and Frida Jansaker. The pair fell behind early due to a break by Samford's duo of Yasmeen Ebada and Carita Moolman, but the Elon duo responded a few games later to break Samford and go up 6-5.
 
On serve with the chance to clinch the point, Samford broke Elon again to force a tiebreaker. For the second day in a row, Jansaker and Camara Ruiz won the tiebreaker to clinch the doubles point, getting the Phoenix going in the right direction. On Friday against No. 1 Furman, Jansaker and Camara Ruiz beat Ansley Speaks and Blair Martin in a tiebreaker to clinch what turned out to be the match's deciding point.
 
In singles, Samford responded and tied the match at one with a victory on court No. 1, but Elon responded to take a 2-1 lead with Barbora Lazarova winning 6-3, 6-3 on court No. 4.
 
Frida Jansaker, who was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player, extended the lead to 3-1 with a 6-1, 6-4 win on court No. 2 over Kristin Lewis. In the tournament, Jansaker went 3-0 in singles without dropping a set while going 3-0 in doubles action to help the Phoenix to the championship.
 
Samford again cut the lead to 3-2 with a win on court No. 6, but Elon jumped out to leads on both court Nos. 3 and 5 with Bryn Khoury and Camara Ruiz looking for the victory. Though Camara Ruiz clinched the match, Khoury was trending in that direction with the senior having a 4-0 lead in her third set on court No. 3.
 
"Every single player stepped up in this tournament," Anderson said. "You don't win conference championships without having every player step up and every single player was committed this whole tournament."
 
In its final two years in the Southern Conference, Elon has now been to back-to-back SoCon Tournament championship matches. Last season, the Phoenix dropped a heartbreaking 4-3 decision against College of Charleston.
 
Elon's three seniors—Johnston, Jansaker and Khoury—were already the most successful senior class in Elon women's tennis history entering the tournament. The trio has now won 64 matches in their four years with the Phoenix. Jansaker now has 58 career singles victories and 69 doubles victories in her time at Elon. Khoury has amassed 55 singles victories while Johnston has 53 singles wins to her name, mostly from the No. 1 spot, and 61 doubles victories.
 
"To see how far these seniors have come from their freshman year, it's amazing," Anderson said. "Their first conference tournament was in Chattanooga and to see where we finished four years later with all the hard work and determination they and the rest of the team put in, it's incredible. They just believed in themselves and we never stopped working hard for this."