ELON, N.C. – Elon University men's tennis resumes action on Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 29, with a matchup against Clemson, its second ACC foe of the season at 5 p.m. inside the Duckworth Family Tennis Facility.
 
THE SERIES
Clemson holds a 2-0 record against Elon since the Phoenix joined the NCAA Division I ranks. This will be the first meeting between the two schools in 10 years. In the last meeting, No. 60-ranked Clemson defeated Elon 5-2 at William& Mary's at the Tribe Invitational on Jan. 30, 2009. The first time occurred in the 2007 NCAA Championships when the Tigers defeated the Phoenix 4-0 on May 11, 2007.

SCOUTING CLEMSON
Clemson is 4-0 on the season, and coming off of a 6-1 win over Appalachian State and a 4-1 win over Coastal Carolina on Saturday, Jan. 26 at home. Through the first four dual matches, the Tigers have a 19-3 record in singles matches and a 10-1 record in doubles matches. Four Clemson players remain undefeated in singles play on the young season, as freshmen Teodor Giusca and junior Carlos Kelaidis are both 4-0, while junior Pierre-Louis Dodens and sophomore Yizhou Liu are 3-0. The doubles team of Dodens and freshman Mike Agee is 4-0 at No. 3 doubles, while the duo of Giusca and Kelaidis is 3-0 at No. 2 doubles. The Tigers top doubles team of Liu and junior Simon Baudry is 3-1 at the No. 1 position. Baudry, a 2018 All-ACC selection, moved up to No. 1 singles after playing primarily at No. 2 a season ago, has a 3-1 record in the top singles slot for the Tigers.

ABOUT ELON
After the Phoenix opened its season on Jan. 12 with a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to Duke, Elon bounced back with a doubleheader sweep over App State and North Carolina A&T at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Jan. 19. This season, Elon returns the 2018 CAA Player of the Year and three-time First Team All-CAA honoree Felipe Sarrasague, as well as Second Team All-CAA honoree Mario Paccini. The Phoenix returns an experienced squad that includes five upperclassmen, led by seniors Sarrasague, Paccini, Felipe Osses-Konig and Taylor Foote. Junior Jacob Bicknell rounds out Elon's five upperclassmen. Kyle Frankel and Camilo Ponce are Elon's lone underclassmen heading into the 2019 season. Elon, which posted a 16-8 dual-match record and ended its season in the 2018 CAA Championship semifinals, also earned a No. 9 spot in the final ITA Carolina Region poll for the second time in the last three seasons.

THE SARRASAGUE SPECIAL
Felipe Sarrasague was named the 2018 CAA Men's Tennis Player of the Year in 2018,  becoming the fourth player in Elon's Division I era – all of which have come in the last six seasons – to earn conference Player of the Year. A 20-match winner in 2017-18, Sarrasague posted a combined record of 20-11 since the start of the fall campaign. Fourteen of those victories came during the spring season with 12 of them coming at the No. 1 spot. During the year, Sarrasague put together an eight-match winning streak and while he lost eight matches this spring, three of the defeats came to nationally-ranked opponents. In doubles action, Sarrasague contributed 15 victories.

SINGLES SUCCESS
During the 2018 season, Elon went 84-51 during dual-match singles action, winning 62.2 percent of its contests. Felipe Sarrasague led the team with 14 wins, while Kyle Frankel tallied 13. Sarrasague duplicated his freshman and sophomore success, taking 11 victories at the No. 1 spot while Fränkel won 12 matches at No. 3 and was 8-2 in his last 10 individual matches. Mario Paccini also had great success, winning 12 matches on the year with 10 of those wins coming at No. 2 and the other two at No. 1 singles. He, Camilo Ponce and Felipe Osses-Konig were tied for third on the team with 12 individual wins.

FRESH FACES
Elon University head men's tennis coach Michael Leonard announced the signing of Dino Bonetta (Rijeka, Croatia) and Maxwell Zucker (Dallas, Texas) for the 2019 season on Saturday, Jan. 5. Bonetta joins the Phoenix program as a transfer from the University of Detroit Mercy. Zucker arrives from Parish Episcopal High School in Dallas, Texas.

UP NEXT
Elon men's tennis returns to the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Tuesday, Feb. 5, to host Campbell. The Phoenix is scheduled to face the Camels at 2 p.m.