ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men's tennis team wraps up its three-match road stand to start the season with matches against Rice on Jan. 27 at 1 p.m. and Texas A&M Corpus-Christi on Jan. 28 at 11:30 a.m. 
 
COVERAGE

• Both matches will begin with doubles at the scheduled start times and will conclude with singles shortly after. 
• Live stats for Friday's match can be found here.
• Video for Friday's match can be found here.
• Live stats and video will not be available for Saturday's match. 
• Other updates will be provided during both matches will be provided by the program's Twitter account, @ElonMTennis. 

 
SERIES HISTORY VS. RICE, TEXAS A&M CORPUS-CHRISTI

• Elon is 1-1 all-time against Rice. The Phoenix defeated the Owls 4-3 in the last matchup between the teams in Houston on Feb. 10, 2019.
• The only other meeting between Elon and Rice came on March 5, 2002, which the Owls won 7-0. 
• The Phoenix won its only meeting against Texas A&M Corpus-Christi 4-2 on Feb. 9, 2019. 

 
ABOUT THE PHOENIX

• Elon is coming off a strong spring in which it went 15-9 and finished as the runner-up at the CAA Championship.
• Among the returnees is Nicholas Campbell, the Most Outstanding Player at the CAA Tournament and an All-CAA second-team singles selection.
• Others include senior Nicholas Condos; juniors Daniel Martin (All-CAA second team in singles and doubles), Luke Queiroz and Ben Zipay; and sophomore Esteban Penagos.
• The Phoenix welcomes three freshmen in Oskar Antinheimo, Veljko Krstic and Jake Pettingell. Antinheimo, from Helsinki, earned a UTR rating of 12 and has been ranked as high as No. 483 in the ITF Junior Rankings in singles play. A native of Belgrade, Serbia, Krstic has been ranked as high as No. 175 in the ITF Junior Rankings in both singles and doubles. Pettingell, from Sarasota, Fla., achieved a top USTA ranking of No. 22 in the state of Florida. Elon also adds Ahmed Hosni for the spring season. A native of Cairo, Egypt, Hosni has been ranked as high as No. 197 in the ITF Junior Rankings and reached two ITF Junior singles finals in 2022.  
• Elon is led by Michael Leonard, who is beginning his 19th season at the helm.

 
LAST TIME OUT

• Elon opened its season on Jan. 16 with a 6-1 loss against No. 14 Wake Forest.
• The Phoenix clinched the doubles point to go ahead 1-0 in the match. Daniel Martin paired up with Oskar Antinheimo for a 6-2 win in the No. 1 spot, while Nicholas Campbell and Ahmed Hosni won their match 6-4 on Court 2. 
• The Demon Deacons swept the singles session, losing just one set in the six matches. 
• Nicholas Condos claimed Elon's first singles set of the season, as the senior won the second set 6-4 against Wake Forest's Luciano Tacchi. 

 
DREAM TEAM

• Oskar Antinheimo and Daniel Martin were named CAA Co-Doubles Team of Week on Wednesday for their performance against Wake Forest. 
• The tandem defeated Wake Forest's Juan Lopez de Azcona and Filippo Moroni, who are the No. 30 team in the ITA doubles rankings. 
• The win was Antinheimo's first career dual doubles victory.   
• Martin's doubles victory was his 14^th since the start of the 2022 season, the most of any Elon player in that span. 
• The doubles point was Elon's first against an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent since Jan. 12, 2019, against Duke. The Phoenix had lost its previous seven doubles sessions against ACC teams. 

 
SCOUTING RICE

• Rice is 2-3 this season and snapped a three-match losing streak in its last contest on Jan. 22 against Denver with a 4-3 victory. 
• This will be the first home match this season for the Owls, who played their first three matches at neutral sites and their next two on the road. 
• Emir Sendogan is off to a 5-0 start in singles this season, with all the wins coming in the Nos. 4 and 5 spots. 
• The doubles team of Yasha Zemel and Kabeer Kapasi is also 5-0 this season. 
• The Owls are led by head coach Efe Ustundag, who is in his 11^th year with the program. 

 
SCOUTING TEXAS A&M CORPUS-CHRISTI

• The Islanders are 2-0 after sweeping Prairie View A&M in a season-opening doubleheader on Jan. 19. 
• Matthieu Peres and Nathan Schwartz are both 2-0 in singles this season after posting a pair of victories against Prairie View A&M. 
• The doubles team of Schwartz and Pascal Lorieul is also 2-0 this season. 
• The Islanders won last season's Southland Conference regular-season title. 
• Texas A&M Corpus-Christi is led by head coach Steve Moore, who is in his second stint with the program. 

 
UP NEXT
Elon plays North Carolina Central in its home opener at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Feb. 4 at 1 p.m.