ELON, N.C. – Elon University men's tennis returns to action on Friday, Feb. 3, when it hosts Liberty in a 1:30 p.m. match at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center in Greensboro, N.C.
 
GAMEDAY COVERAGE
- Friday's action will begin with doubles play at 1:30 p.m. at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center.
- Live Stats are also available and can be found here.
 
THE MATCHUP
- Friday afternoon marks the 13^th meeting between Elon and Liberty.
- The Phoenix currently leads in the all-time series 8-4.
- In the most recent meeting between the two programs, Liberty defeated Elon, 5-2, on Jan. 18, 2021. After Elon secured the doubles point with wins on Courts 1 and 2, Kyle Frankel logged the lone singles win on the day for the Phoenix, taking down Goncalo Ferreira 6-2, 6-2.
- Elon's most recent win against Liberty came on Feb. 26, 2019, when the Phoenix defeated the Flames, 5-2, at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center.
- Elon has never lost to Liberty in a match played on its home court, boasting a perfect 6-0 record.
- Friday's matchup will be a battle of two nationally ranked squads from a season ago. The Flames (20-7) finished the 2021 season at No. 39 in the final rankings, while the Phoenix (15-6) closed the year in the No. 68 position.

SCOUTING ELON
- Elon enters this contest with an 0-2 overall record after falling to Duke in its most recent outing.
- Elon returned three All-CAA honorees this season in Kyle Frankel (1^st Team; 2^nd Team Doubles), Camilo Ponce (2^nd Team; 2^nd Team Doubles) and Chung-Han Tsai (2^nd Team Doubles).
- Frankel is coming off a strong season last year, as he compiled a 15-1 overall record and an 11-1 mark in the No. 1 spot. He also combined with Camilo Ponce to post an undefeated 8-0 record in doubles play.
- Camilo Ponce rounded out last season ranked second on the team in singles wins (12), while posting an 8-3 mark in the No. 3 position.
- Nicholas Campbell finished the 2020-21 campaign with the third most singles victories on the team (10), adding an 8-4 mark in doubles action.
- Chung-Han Tsai enters this season after finishing 8-7 in singles play and 10-5 in doubles action in 2020-21.
- Nicholas Condos ended the 2020-21 campaign with an 8-9 singles record and an 11-7 mark in doubles play.
- Elon is led by Michael Leonard, who will begin his 18^th season at the helm of the program in 2021-22.
 
SCOUTING LIBERTY
- The Flames (1-3) are looking to snap a two-match losing skid after falling to Duke (4-1 final) and LSU (4-3 final) at ITA Kickoff Weekend, last weekend at South Carolina.
- Since Flames head coach Derek Schwandt took over the program prior to the start of the 2017-18 season, Liberty is 2-1 against Elon.
- Liberty junior Christiaan Worst was the lone Flame to win all three of his singles matches last week. The Pretoria, South Africa native picked up victories against foes from William & Mary, Duke and LSU.
- The Flames' Josh Wilson and Goncalo Ferreira were the only doubles squad to finish undefeated (2-0) in last week's matches.
- Liberty is the defending ASUN Conference champions and was picked to finish first in the league in the 2022 ASUN Men's Tennis Preseason Coaches' Poll.

LAST TIME OUT
- Elon fell to Duke, 7-0, on Sunday, Jan. 23, at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center in Durham, N.C.
- The combination of Nicholas Campbell and Nicholas Condos highlighted the match for the Phoenix, as the duo defeated Connor Krug and Jake Krug of Duke 7(7)-6(4) in doubles play. Their win marked the lone victory for the Phoenix in doubles.
- The tandems of Kyle Frankel and Camilo Ponce, and Daniel Martin and Chung-Han Tsai eached forced a tiebreaker in their respectively doubles matches. Frankel and Ponce fell to Faris Khan and Niroop Vallabhaneni (7(7)-6(4)), while Martin and Tsai dropped a 7(7)-6(3) decision to Garrett Johns and Andrew Zhang.
- Kyle Frankel pushed No. 76 ranked Johns into a second-set tiebreaker after losing the first set 6-4. Frankel nearly won the decisive second set but was outlasted by Johns 7(9)-6(7).
- Nicholas Campbell also forced a second-set tiebreaker in the No. 2 position for the Phoenix. Despite a late push, Campbell fell to Zhang 6-3, 7(7)-6(1).
- Nicholas Condos was defeated by No. 38 ranked Faris Khan (7-5, 6-2), while Daniel Martin fell to Connor Krug in a 7-5, 7-5 decision in No. 4 singles.
 
THE FACES OF 2021-22
- The Phoenix welcomes back seven returners from last year's squad in seniors Kyle Frankel, Camilo Ponce and Chung-Han Tsai, juniors Nicholas Campbell and Nicholas Condos, and sophomores Luke Queiroz and Ben Zipay.
- Elon will feature three newcomers in freshmen Esteban Penagos and Joseph Dougherty, as well as Minnesota transfer Daniel Martin.
- Penagos joins the Phoenix from Laurel Springs High School, where he earned a top-300 ITF ranking.
- Dougherty comes to Elon from North Carolina Cyber Academy where he garnered a top-200 national ranking (18s) and was considered a 4-Star Player on Tennis Recruiting.
- Martin joins Elon from the University of Minnesota where he posted an 8-8 mark in singles play last season.
 
COMING SOON
- Elon plays its first home match of the spring season on Feb. 4 when it hosts Liberty at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center in Greensboro, N.C.
- Following that game, Elon hits the road again for back-to-back contests against William & Mary (Feb. 6) and Longwood (Feb. 17).
- The Phoenix will then return home for three-straight matches at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center against Campbell (Feb. 19), North Carolina A&T (Feb. 22) and Gardner-Webb (Feb. 26) respectively.