ELON, N.C. – Elon University women's tennis hits the road for the final time this season on Wednesday, March 27, when it faces CAA foe UNCW at the UNCW Tennis Courts. The matchup between the Phoenix and the Seahawks is scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m.
 
THE SERIES
The Phoenix will face CAA foe UNCW for the 18th time since becoming a Division I program in 2000 on Wednesday. Elon has won six of the last seven meetings against UNCW and has a slight 9-8 lead in the series after picking up a 5-2 win last season on March 10, 2018 at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. In the previous meeting, UNCW got the better of the Phoenix during the semifinals of the 2017 CAA Championships with a 4-2 win on April 22, 2017 at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center. Prior to the matchup in the 2017 CAA Championships, Elon had won five straight against the Seahawks.

SCOUTING UNCW
The Seahawks own a 5-8 overall record and just completed a spring break trip to Florida, which included a match against Western Carolina at the USTA Center in Orlando. After falling 5-2 against the Catamounts, UNCW picked up a 4-3 win against USC Upstate before falling to Bethune-Cookman 4-3 in its spring break finale. UNCW's matchup against the Phoenix will be its second against a CAA school this season. The Seahawks fell to College of Charleston 6-1 on Feb. 22 at Patriots Point. Sabrina Barisane leads the team with a 9-3 record in singles play, primarily at the No. 4 and 5 positions. She also has a team-high tying eight doubles wins with No. 1 doubles partner Maddy Muller-Hughes. UNCW is coming off a 2018 season where they finished 1-12 overall and fell to No. 2-seed James Madison in the quarterfinals of the 2018 CAA Championships at Elon.

ABOUT ELON
The Phoenix (9-9) split its four home matches last week with victories over Morgan State and Maryland Eastern Shore and narrow 4-3 losses to Mercer and James Madison. Olivia Archer leads the team in singles with 11 victories and an 11-3 overall record, while No. 2 duo of Uma Nayar and Nicole Shiau own the team's best doubles record at 7-3 overall. Along with Nayar and Shiau, No. 1 doubles team of Maria Paraja and Alex Koniaev have seven doubles wins this season with a 7-5 record. Archer currently owns Elon's longest singles winning streak at six matches, while Elon's No. 1 and No. 2 doubles duos have three-match winning streaks.

MOVING UP IN THE RECORD BOOKS
Seniors Suzanne Zenoni and Maria Paraja continue to move up in the dual match record books. Zenoni ranks 8th all-time in singles victories with 49 thus far and is one win away from tying Olivia Lucas '18 in 7th at 50 wins. Zenoni also ranks 8th in doubles with 40 career victories. Maria Paraja has a total of 45 singles wins in her career, which ranks 10th all-time.

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
After a week-long break, the Phoenix begins its final four-match homestand before the 2019 CAA Championships on Wednesday, April 3, with a 3 p.m. match against Triad rival UNCG at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.