THE SERIES
Elon will be facing Texas A&M - Corpus Christi for the first time on Saturday afternoon. Sunday's matchup will be the second all-time meeting between the Phoenix and the Owls since Elon became an NCAA Division I program in 2000. In the last matchup, Rice claimed the 7-0 victory on March 5, 2002 at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.

SCOUTING THE OPPONENTS
Texas A&M - Corpus Christi is off to a 7-1 start this season with its only loss coming at Texas on Jan. 30. The Islanders are coming off a 20-9 season in 2018, which ended with a narrow 4-3 loss to Lamar in the Southland Conference final. As a program, the Islanders have reached 10 NCAA Tournaments in program history and captured 22 Southland titles in the last 12 years. Rice is also off to a good start with a 5-1 record after suffering its first loss of the season on Sunday at LSU. The Owls have opened the year with five consecutive home victories and will look to continue its unbeaten streak against Elon. During the 2018 season, Rice posted a 9-17 record overall and ended its season with a loss to Middle Tennessee State in the opening round of the Conference USA tournament.

ABOUT ELON
Elon has been rolling and is currently on a four-match winning streak since its season-opening 4-3 loss to Duke on Jan. 12. The Phoenix is coming off a 6-1 victory over Campbell at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Tuesday. The winning streak also included the program's first win over an ACC program since 2014 after a 5-2 victory at Clemson on Jan. 29. 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.

OSSES-KONIG NAMED PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Senior Felipe Osses-Konig was named the CAA Player of the Week on Wednesday, Jan. 30, for his 4-0 singles record during the opening month of the season, while leading the Phoenix to a 3-1 start to the 2019 campaign. During that stretch, Osses-Konig rolled at the No. 3 singles position during Elon's 5-2 win at Clemson on Jan. 29 and also earned a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Jason Lapidus of Duke at the No. 5 position on Jan. 12.

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
The Phoenix closes out its four-match road swing in Wilmington, N.C. on Friday, Feb. 15 and Saturday, Feb. 16. Elon will face fellow CAA member UNCW on Friday at 1 p.m. and Georgia Southern on Saturday at 11 a.m.