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ATHENS, Ga. – Cameron Silverman of the Elon University men's tennis team will open his NCAA Singles Championship chase tomorrow, May 21, against Florent Diep of the University of Florida.
 
The draw was announced today, May 20. Silverman's match against Diep is set for 4 p.m. at the Dan Magill Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Georgia.
 
Entering the tournament, Silverman ranks No. 36 in the country while Diep is ranked No. 51 in the nation.
 
These two players have already met once in the last eight months, as the two battled in the ITA Men's All-American Championship on October 3 in Tulsa, Okla. In that match, Silverman topped Diep 7-6, 7-5 to advance to the second round.
 
This season, Silverman went 17-5 while helping Elon to its second Southern Conference Tournament championship in seven years and second straight SoCon regular season title. Playing from the No. 1 spot all year, Silverman earned his second SoCon Player of the Year award in a row at the end of the season on April 14. The team's lone senior has won 62 career matches at Elon in dual singles action. The mark sits two behind the program record of 64, which was set in 2009 by former standout Damon Gooch.
 
In the NCAA Team Championship earlier this month, Elon fell in the first round to the University of Tennessee, 4-1, in Durham, N.C. In that match, Silverman battled Hunter Reese, the No. 27 player in the country, in a match that went unfinished. Reese took the first set from Silverman in a tiebreaker, but Silverman was up 6-5 in the second set before the match was called because of Tennessee's victory.
 
Diep, a senior from Paris, France, has vastly improved throughout this season for the Gators. Diep started the season playing No. 5 singles for Florida and worked his way up to the No. 1 spot for the Gators by season's end.
 
In the Team Championship, Diep helped Florida reach the third round against the Ohio State Buckeyes. In that match, Florida fell 4-3 as Diep was beat in straight sets.
 
In the other two matches of the tournament for the Gators, Diep clinched the match against South Florida for the Gators in the second round and was well on the way to victory in the first round against St. Johns, but the match was called due to Florida securing enough points via other courts.
 
Should Silverman advance, he would take on the winner of a match between Axel Alvarez Llamas of Oklahoma and Amerigo Contini of Virginia Tech on Thursday, May 22. The match between Llamas and Contini will be played at 6 p.m. following Silverman's match against Diep.