Agate
Tournament Central
 
WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – The Elon University men's tennis team made its inaugural appearance in the Colonial Athletic Association Men's Tennis Championships today, April 17, and swept Drexel, 4-0, to advance in the tournament. Elon will face host William & Mary in the semifinals tomorrow, April 18, at 2 p.m. at the Millie West Tennis Facility.
 
The second-seeded Phoenix was challenged in doubles play, but won on two of the three courts to take a 1-0 lead into singles play. Stefan Fortmann and Brian Kowalski won, 8-2, at No. 1 doubles while Jordan Kaufman and Chris Humphreys got past Drexel's Dan Koehler and Kashyap Ashok, 8-5, to clinch the point.
 
Josh Luck and Neal Port were locked in a tight battle with the Dragons' Badr Ouabdelmoumen and Daniel Hansen at No. 3 doubles, finishing in a 7-7 (4-4) tie.
 
Elon cruised through singles play, quickly picking up the three points it needed to clinch the match. Kaufman dominated Ashok, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 2 singles to give Elon a 2-0 lead while Robert Lindgren blanked Drexel's Xabier Saavedra, 6-0, 6-0, to make it 3-0 in favor of the Phoenix.
 
Fortmann secured the win with a 6-1, 6-0 defeat of Ouabdelmoumen at the top singles position.
 
Kowalski, Luck and Humphreys each won their respective first sets in the remaining singles matches, but went unfinished.
 
Up next: Elon advances to face third-seeded William & Mary in the semifinals of the CAA Tournament tomorrow, April 18, at 2 p.m. at the Millie West Tennis Facility. The host Tribe earned a trip to the semifinals after blanking sixth-seeded Hofstra, 4-0, in the quarterfinals.

How it happened: The Phoenix took a 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point and quickly won three singles matches to finish off the 4-0 sweep. Kaufman (6-1, 6-0), Lindgren (6-0, 6-0) and Fortmann (6-1, 6-0) picked up singles wins for Elon in the win.

Notes: Fortmann and Kowalski have won eight of their last 10 matches at No. 1 doubles … With their victories, Fortmann and Kaufman remained in a tie for the team lead in singles wins (13) … Elon's contest against Drexel was the first-ever match between the two schools … Kaufman improved to 9-3 on the season in the No. 2 position