ELON, N.C. – Elon University women's tennis makes a two-match road trip to Virginia this weekend facing VCU on Saturday, Feb. 23, followed by Richmond on Sunday, Feb. 24. Both matches are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
 
THE SERIES
Saturday morning will be Elon's third meeting in the program's Division I era against VCU and trails 2-0 in the series. In the last meeting on Feb. 18, 2018, Elon suffered a narrow 4-3 setback at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. The Phoenix will face Richmond for the third time since 2013 and leads 2-1 in the all-time series. The Spiders earned a 4-2 win in the last matchup on April 7, 2018 in Greensboro.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
VCU is 6-2 overall heading into its match on Saturday against Elon. The Rams have won four straight matches picking up wins against Howard, Liberty, Maryland and Davidson. They have also picked up wins against Campbell and Drexel this season and have only lost to No. 3 North Carolina and Michigan State. Richmond is 2-3 overall and will face Campbell on Saturday before taking on the Phoenix on Sunday.

ABOUT ELON
The Phoenix (6-4) picked up an epic come-from-behind 4-3 win against Davidson on Sunday in Greensboro. Elon also won since Elizabeth City State had to cancel the match due to illness on the team. Olivia Archer leads the team in singles with five victories, while Archer and Suzanne Zenoni each have a team best five doubles wins on the year. The Phoenix returns six players from a 2017-18 team that posted a 14-13 dual match record and finished its season falling to eventual 2018 CAA Champion William & Mary 4-2 in the semifinals of the conference tournament at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. Highlighting the returners are All-CAA doubles honorees Maria Paraja and Alex Koniaev, as well as Suzanne Zenoni, who finished with a team-best 16-8 singles record. Zenoni, Paraja, and Moore are the three seniors on the squad in 2018-19. Juniors Koniaev and Edo round out Elon's group of five upperclassman, while Mia Wallace is the maroon and gold's lone sophomore this season. Additionally, the Phoenix infused three newcomers for 2018-19 in Olivia Archer, Uma Nayar and Nicole Shiau.

200 CAREER WINS
Elizabeth Anderson, who is in her 15th season as head coach of the Phoenix, earned her 200th-career win in Elon's 7-0 victory over North Carolina A&T on Wednesday, Jan. 16. Since joining the CAA in 2015, the Phoenix has posted a 61-38 dual match record under the direction of Anderson. Anderson collected her first-ever conference coach of the year award in 2016 as she was named the CAA Coach of the Year during Elon's second season in the league. That season, she led the Phoenix to a 5-1 record against CAA teams. She has led Elon to 14 or more wins in the last seven seasons and guided the program to its first NCAA Tournament in 2014.

STRENGTH IN RETURNERS
Elon's returners posted 60 total wins in singles and 41 doubles victories during the 2018 season. In addition to Zenoni's 16 wins in singles, Paraja had the third-most wins with 13 in 2018. Koniaev also finished with double-digit singles wins posting 11 last season. Zenoni is Elon's top returner in doubles wins as she had 11 last season. As a group, Elon brings back 41 total wins in doubles from a year ago.

FRESH FACES
Elon University head women's tennis coach Elizabeth Anderson announced the additions of Olivia Archer (Cornelius, N.C.), Uma Nayar (Ipoh, Malaysia), and Nicole Shiau (Taichung, Taiwan) for the 2018-19 season.

UP NEXT
The Phoenix continues its four-match road swing on Thursday, Feb. 28, with a contest at Campbell. That matchup is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m.