ELON, N.C. – Elon University women's tennis returns action for the first time in eight days on Saturday morning, March 16, hosting the East Carolina Pirates at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. The match between the Phoenix and the Pirates is set to begin at 11 a.m.
 
THE SERIES
The Phoenix trails in the all-time series against the Pirates 12-6. East Carolina snapped Elon six-match winning streak in the series last season as a late comeback took down the Phoenix 4-3 on April 5, 2018 in Greenville. Prior to that loss, Elon had won the previous six consecutive contests against East Carolina since the 2012 season.

SCOUTING EAST CAROLINA
East Carolina is 13-2  heading into its match against the Phoenix and has won 13 straight contests. Most recently, ECU defeated Charlotte 4-0 on Thursday to extend its winning streak. The Pirates are a combined 64-17 (.790) in singles during dual matches this season. Celia Ruiz has a team-high 10 dual match singles wins, followed by Alisa Diercksen and Minette Van Vreden's nine singles wins this season. In doubles play, duo of Ruiz and Van Vreden have won six straight doubles matches to improve their mark to 6-1 this season. Diercksen and Lisa Hofbauer have a team-best seven doubles wins this spring. East Carolina finished the 2018 season with a 17-9 record and fell in the first round of the American Athletic Conference tournament to No. 9 seed Tulane, 4-3.

ABOUT ELON
The Phoenix (7-6) bounced back from a two-match losing streak with a 4-3 win at Gardner-Webb. Sofia Edo clinched the win to improve her singles record to 4-0 on the season. Olivia Archer leads the team in singles with seven victories, while Uma Nayar and Nicole Shiau own the team's best doubles record at 4-2 overall. Elon is 3-0 at home this season and 3-1 in neutral-site matches. Three of those neutral matches have been played in Greensboro and one as part of a doubleheader in Durham.

MOVING UP IN THE RECORD BOOKS
Seniors Suzanne Zenoni and Maria Paraja continue to move up in the dual match record books. Zenoni ranks tied for 8th all-time with Maria Camara Ruiz '15 in singles victories with 47 thus far, while also ranking tied for 8th in doubles with Paige Kensrue '10 with 38 victories. Maria Paraja has a total of 42 singles wins in her career, which ranks 11th all-time. She needs just one more win to tie Briana Berne '13 with 43 wins to move into the top-10 in program history.

WHAT ELON BRINGS TO 2019
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 begins a string of four matches in six days at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Monday, March 18, facing Mercer at 8:30 a.m.. That match will be followed by a contest on Wednesday, March 20, at 9 a.m. against Morgan State.