Agate

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men's tennis team fought back from an early deficit but came up one point short today, March 15, in a 4-3 loss to George Washington at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.
 
The Phoenix played a competitive doubles point, but the Colonials triumphed on two of the three courts to take a 1-0 lead into singles play. Jordan Kaufman and Chris Humphreys cruised to an 8-2 victory at No. 2 doubles, the duo's second straight win.
 
Elon's top doubles pairing of Stefan Fortmann and Brian Kowalski lost for the first time in 10 matches, as George Washington's Francisco Dias and Danil Zelenkov handed the duo its first loss since Jan. 23 against No. 63 Utah.
 
With the Phoenix trailing 2-0, Robert Lindgren, last week's recipient of the Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week award, finished off a 6-2, 6-2 victory against the Colonials' Chris Fletcher to cut Elon's deficit to 2-1.
 
Elon was down 3-1 when Josh Luck won his sixth match in the last seven contests, a 6-3, 7-5, decision, to make it 3-2. Fortmann's three-set, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, victory at No. 1 singles evened the match at 3-3, but Dias' three-set win on court No. 2 clinched the match for George Washington.
 
Elon falls to 5-9 on the season with the loss and will play its first-ever Colonial Athletic Association match on March 21, when the Phoenix hosts James Madison in a 1:30 p.m. match at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.