Elon Phoenix (3-4) vs. Appalachian State (6-2)

Date | Time	Sunday, Feb. 18 | 1 p.m.
Location	Jimmy Powell Tennis Center (Elon, N.C.)
Series Record	Elon leads 13-4
Last Meeting	April 18, 2014 | Elon, 4-0
Live Stats	Click Here
Twitter	@ElonMTennis | @ElonPhoenix | @ElonScores

 

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ELON, N.C. – Elon University men's tennis will start a stretch of playing six of its next seven matches at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center when it welcomes Appalachian State on Sunday, Feb. 18, for a 1 p.m. match .

THE SERIES
Elon leads 13-4 and is 6-1 at home against the Mountaineers. The last time the two met, Elon won 4-0 in the Southern Conference Tournament Semifinals. A day later, Elon went on to beat Furman to claim the SoCon crown and a berth to the NCAA Tournament. 

SCOUTING APPALACHIAN STATE
The Mountaineers own a 6-2 record in 2018 with victories over the likes of USC Upstate, Lees-McRae, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina Central, Eastern Kentucky and Xavier. Its pair of losses came to Elon's fellow CAA foe UNCW to start the season in Wilmington, N.C., and on the road against Presbyterian.   

LAST TIME OUT
Elon claimed the doubles point with Neal Port and Mario Paccini winning a tiebreaker at No. 1 to clinch the 1-0 lead, but that was all the Phoenix could get off NC State with the Wolfpack winning all six singles contests. Felipe Sarrasague put up a strong fight at No. 1 against 19th-ranked Alexis Galarneau in the second set looking to push a third, but it wasn't meant to be as Galarneau earned the 6-2, 7-5 win.

CHASING 200
In his 14th season at Elon, head coach Michael Leonard holds an all-time record of 199-125 and is just one win away from 200. A six-time conference coach of the year since becoming the leader of the Phoenix program, Leonard has guided Elon to five conference titles and two NCAA Tournament appearances, the latest coming in 2014. He has led Elon to conference tournament semifinal appearances in each of the last five seasons. 

VETERAN LEADERSHIP
Elon lost just two players from last years team and returned five of its top six singles players from 2017 in Felipe Sarrasague, Mario Paccini, Salvador Mijares, Felipe Osses-Konig and Jacob Bicknell. In all, Elon returned 79.8 percent of its 2016-17 singles victories with Sarrasague, a First Team All-CAA Singles honoree, leading the way at No. 1 singles with 21 wins a season ago. 

FRESH FACES
Elon added freshmen Kyle Frankel and Camilo Ponce ahead of the 2017 fall campaign. The two posted strong fall season with Frankel going 9-3 in singles and Ponce 7-3. The pair have added solid depth to Elon's rotation as it looks to win its first conference tournament title since claiming the 2014 Southern Conference crown. 

UP NEXT
The Phoenix will return home for the first time since opening day to host former Southern Conference rival Appalachian State on Saturday, Feb. 17, at 1 p.m. at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. The match starts a run with three of the next four at home with Elon also welcoming Yale and UNCW to campus during the stretch while traveling to Campbell.