ELON, N.C. – Elon University men's tennis plays the first of its final two road matches this season on Monday, March 25, against CAA foe the College of Charleston at Patriots Point. The matchup between the Phoenix and the Cougars is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.
 
THE SERIES
In 19 all-time meetings, Elon owns a slight 10-9 edge in the series. This is the first time that the Phoenix and Cougars have met since the 2017 season when Elon defeated CofC 5-2 on March 16, 2017 at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. Prior to that meeting, CofC won both meetings in 2016 by the score of 4-3 with the first coming in the regular season and the second one in the 2016 CAA Championships at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. 

SCOUTING COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON
CofC enters the match on Monday with a 16-2 overall record and is currently on an eight-match winning streak. The Cougars have only suffered losses to Virginia Tech and James Madison. College of Charleston has played eight of its last 10 at home and are 7-1 at Patriots Point this season. Benedikt Henning leads the way in singles play and has won 15-straight matches at the No. 1 singles spot. He was named the CAA Co-Player of the Week last week for his winning efforts. Charleston duo of Benedikt Henning and Johnny Wang are ranked No. 75 in the latest ITA National Rankings. In its last match, Charleston battled back for a come-from-behind 4-3 win to hand UNC Asheville its first loss of 2019.

ABOUT ELON
Elon has an 14-4 mark this season, which includes a 9-0 mark at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center following wins against USC Upstate and Winthrop last week. Elon has a 2-1 record this season against CAA opponents with wins against William & Mary and James Madison. The team's lone CAA loss came against UNCW. Elon has now won eight of its last 10 matches heading Monday's matchup. The Phoenix started the 2019 season with a 6-1 record, which included a six-match winning streak from Jan. 18 until Feb. 10. The winning streak included the program's first win over an ACC program since 2014 after a 5-2 victory at Clemson and a 4-3 victory over Rice.

RACKING UP CAA WEEKLY HONORS
Elon has won a total of five weekly honors this season. Kyle Frankel was named the CAA Player of the Week while doubles duo of Taylor Foote and Dino Bonetta claimed Doubles Team of the Week honors on Wednesday, March 13. Seniors Felipe Osses-Konig and Felipe Sarrasague have each earned CAA Player of the Week honors this season. Osses-Konig claimed the honor on Wednesday, Jan. 30, for his 4-0 singles record during the opening month of the season. Sarrasague has now earned the honor twice this season with each coming on Feb. 13 and Feb. 27.

THE SARRASAGUE SPECIAL
Felipe Sarrasague, the regining 2018 CAA Men's Tennis Player of the Year, has an 12-3 singles record this season, including two wins against ranked opponents in the spring. He had won 11 straight matches before falling to Frazier Rengifo of ETSU on Sunday, March 17. It was his first defeat since Elon's season-opening loss at Duke on Jan. 12. During his career, Sarrasague has won 55 career dual singles matches, which ranks 7th in program history. Last season, he became 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. As 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
Elon is currently 71-26 overall in dual match singles action in 2019 and is continuing where it left off last season. 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 Frankel 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.

WHO'S BACK?
This season, Elon returns the 2018 CAA Player of the Year and three-time First Team All-CAA honoree Sarrasague, as well as Second Team All-CAA honoree Mario Paccini. The Phoenix, which finished 16-8 last season, returns an experienced squad that includes five upperclassmen, led by seniors Sarrasague, Paccini, 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.

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 returns to the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Saturday, April 6, to host Gardner-Webb. The contest between the Phoenix and the Runnin' Bulldogs is slated to begin at 2:30 p.m.