ELON, N.C. – Coming off its first victory of the season, the Elon University women's tennis team travels to Texas for matches against Houston on Friday at 10 a.m. and Rice on Saturday at 9 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.
• Live stats for Saturday's match can be found here.
• Video for Saturday's match can be found here.
• Other updates will be provided during both matches will be provided by the program's Twitter account, @ElonWTennis. 

 
SERIES HISTORY VS. HOUSTON, RICE

• This will be the first meeting for Elon against both Houston and Rice. 

 
ABOUT THE PHOENIX

• Elon is coming off a strong season in 2022 in which it went 17-9 and finished as the runner-up at the CAA Championship.
• The returnees include graduate Olivia Archer (All-CAA third team in singles); seniors Julie Ball, Shauna Galvin and Sibel Tanik (All-CAA first team in singles and second team in doubles) and junior Lizette Reding (All-CAA second team in singles and doubles). 
• The Phoenix also welcomes three newcomers in sophomore Miray Konar — a transfer from Western Carolina — and freshmen Madison Cordisco and Helen Sarikulaya. Konar, from Izmir, Turkey, went 7-5 in singles and 10-6 in doubles while playing primarily in the No. 2 spot for the Catamounts last season. A Pittsburgh native, Cordisco was considered a five-star recruit by tennisrecruiting.net. Sarikulaya, from Rockville, Md., was also a five-star recruit and reached as high as No. 7 in the USTA Girls' 18 national standings.
• Elon is led by Elizabeth Anderson, who is beginning her 19th season at the helm.

LAST TIME OUT

• The Phoenix defeated Campbell 6-1 on Jan. 20 for its first victory of the season. 
• Campbell won the doubles point by winning the last match to finish on Court 1. Miray Konar and Helen Sarikulaya picked up Elon's first doubles victory of the season, winning 6-3 in the No. 3 spot. The victory was Konar's first as a member of the Phoenix and Sarkulaya's first career dual doubles win. 
• With a 6-2, 6-1 singles win on Court 4 against Campbell's Abbie Tyler, Julie Ball leveled the score at 1-1. 
• Playing in the No. 5 spot, Olivia Archer earned a 6-4, 6-2 win against Veronika Prospalova of Campbell to make the score 2-1 in favor of Elon. 
• Shortly after Archer's win, Lizette Reding picked up her first singles triumph of the season, as the junior delivered a 6-2, 6-1 win against Campbell's Anna-Marie Kopecka on Court 2 to put the Phoenix ahead 3-1. 
• Sarikulaya clinched the match for Elon with a 6-2, 6-4 victory on Court 3 against Campbell's Lena Karlovcan. The victory was the first dual singles win of her career. 
• After Sarikulaya clinched the match for Elon, Sibel Tanik won 6-4, 7-5 against Tamsin Hart of Campbell on Court 1 to secure her first singles victory of the season. 
• Konar battled back from dropping the opening set on Court 6 to win 3-6, 6-4, 10-8 against Campbell's Mialy Ranaivo for her first singles victory as a member of the Phoenix.
• The win was Elon's first-ever road victory against Campbell. 

 
CAA WEEKLY HONORS

• Julie Ball was named CAA Player of the Week on Wednesday for her performances against North Carolina and Campbell, while the tandem of Miray Konar and Helen Sarikulaya earned CAA Doubles Team of the Week Honors. 
• Ball is the first player from Elon to be named CAA Player of the Week since Sibel Tanik earned the honor on Feb. 2, 2022.
• The team of Konar and Sarikulaya is the first Elon duo to take home CAA Doubles Team of the Week since Archer and Alison O'Dea on March 2, 2022. 

 
WRECKING BALL

• Julie Ball holds a 2-0 record in singles this season, winning all four of her sets. 
• The senior has won 24 of 29 games in her two matches this season, winning three of her sets by a 6-1 score. 
• In both of Elon's contests this season, Ball has been the first player to complete her singles match.
• Since joining Elon last season, Ball holds a 14-5 record in singles and has won eight of her last nine matches. 

 
ARCHER'S ASCENT 

• Olivia Archer's singles victory against Campbell was the 57^th of her career, giving her the fourth most in Elon's Division I history, breaking a tie with Bryn Khoury (2011-14).
• The fifth-year senior needs just one more win to tie Barbora Lazarova (2012-15) for third all-time in singles wins with 58. 
• Archer needs 11 more singles wins to tie Frida Jansaker's (2011-14) all-time Elon record with 68. 
• After posting 19 singles wins in 2022, tied for the third most in a single season in Elon's Division I history, Archer is off to a 2-0 start in 2023. 

 
TANIK ON A TEAR

• With Sibel Tanik's victory against Campbell, the senior is now 15-7 in the last two seasons at the No. 1 singles position.
• Dating back to last season, the senior has won 11 of her last 14 completed singles matches, all in the No. 1 spot. 
• Of Tanik's 15 singles victories the last two seasons, 13 have come in straight sets. 
• All of Tanik's 22 singles appearances the last two seasons have come in the No. 1 position. 

 
SCOUTING HOUSTON

• The Cougars have a 1-2 record this season but are coming off their first win on Jan. 22 against UTRGV.  
• Houston's losses both came on the road against No. 5 Texas A&M on Jan. 17 and Baylor, which received votes in this week's ITA Top 25 Team Rankings, on Jan. 21. 
• Azul Pedemonti is 2-1 in singles this season and was the only Houston player to register a victory against Baylor. 
• Sophomore Maria Dzemeshkevich, who earned a team-best 13 singles wins and made the American All-Conference Team as a freshman, earned her first singles victory of the season against UTRGV. 
• The Cougars are led by fifth-year head coach Helena Besovic. 

 
SCOUTING RICE

• Rice enters with a 1-1 record on the season. 
• The Owls defeated Lamar 7-0 in their season opener on Jan. 19 and lost a tight match against Baylor 4-3 on Jan. 23.
• Alison Zipoli is 2-0 in singles this season after defeating Baylor's Alina Shcherbinina in the No. 1 position. 
• Maria Budin is also 2-0 in singles play, with both victories coming in the No. 4 spot. 
• Rice is led by Elizabeth Schmidt, who is in her 15^th year with the program. She has guided the Owls to six Conference USA championships and nine NCAA Tournament appearances. 

UP NEXT
Elon hosts UNCG in its home opener at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Feb. 3 at 2 p.m.