ELON, N.C. – After opening its season with three consecutive road matches, the Elon University men's tennis team (0-3) returns home Tuesday for its home opener against South Carolina State. The contest at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center, the first of five straight home outings for the Phoenix, will begin at 2 p.m.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW

• The match will start with doubles at 2 p.m. with singles to follow shortly after.
• Live scoring for the match can be accessed by clicking here.
• Admission to the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center is free. 
• For live updates throughout the match, follow @ElonMTennis on Twitter and Instagram. 

 
THE MATCHUP

• Tuesday's match will be the fifth all-time meeting between the Phoenix and Bulldogs and the first since 2012.
• Elon won the first three matches in the series, but South Carolina State won the most recent meeting 4-3 on Feb. 25, 2012. 
• Elon is 2-1 in its three meetings with the Bulldogs at home.

 
ABOUT THE PHOENIX

• Elon is coming off a 15-9 season in the spring and its second consecutive appearance in the CAA championship match. 
• Headlining Elon's returners from last season is Daniel Martin, who earned CAA Player of The Year and CAA Tournament MVP honors in the spring. Martin posted an 18-6 singles record in 2023 with all 18 wins coming at the No. 1 spot. 
• Elon also returns reigning CAA Rookie of the Year Veljko Krstic, who racked up 16 singles victories in his freshman season. 
• Back for his senior season is Ben Zipay, who took home Third Team All-CAA Doubles honors in 2023. Zipay also won 12 singles contests.
• The other returner for the Phoenix is sophomore Oskar Antinheimo, who took home a CAA Player of the Week and two CAA Doubles Team of the Week honors as a freshman. 
• Elon welcomes four newcomers in 2023 – Dylan Heap, Juan Sengariz, Jack Curtis and Alonso Roca. Heap is a graduate student who played last season at Rice and Sengariz joins the Phoenix after spending the last two seasons at Anderson. Curtis and Roca are both freshman this season.
• Elon is led by head coach Michael Leonard, who is in his 20th season leading the program. 

LAST TIME OUT

• The Phoenix fell 7-0 against No. 25 North Carolina on Feb. 8 at the Cone-Kenfield Indoor Tennis Center. The match was the last of three indoor matches to start the season for the maroon and gold. 
• After the Tar Heels picked up a win at No. 2 doubles, Ben Zipay and Juan Sengariz delivered a 6-3 victory playing the No. 3 spot against Peter Murphy and Patrick Schoen. It was the first doubles victory for both players this season and the first dual doubles win with the maroon and gold for Sengariz. 
• The Tar Heels clinched the doubles point with a victory at the No. 1 position. 
• North Carolina rattled off straight-set victories on Courts 4, 5 and 6 to take a 4-0 lead in the match. 
• Oskar Antinheimo went down a set and an early break in the second against Karl Poling, the No. 75 ranked player in the current ITA singles rankings, on Court 3 before mounting an impressive rally. The sophomore got the break back and pushed the set to a tiebreak, which Poling won 7-3 after winning the final four points. 
• Playing the No. 1 position for the second time this season, Veljko Krstic secured a break midway through the first set against Will Jansen, who is currently ranked No. 94 in the ITA singles rankings, and went on to close out a 6-4 win. Jansen fought back to force a third set and eventually won the match.
• Following a first-set loss on Court 2, Daniel Martin rebounded in the second against Benjamin Kittay, who is No. 60 in the ITA singles rankings. Martin broke early in the second and never looked back, winning the frame 6-3. After Kittay got a late break in the third, Martin saved match points in the 10^th game of the set and eventually forced a tiebreak, which Kittay won 8-6 to close out a victory. 

 
DAN THE MAN

• Last season, Daniel Martin racked up several prestigious CAA honors in his second year with the program. 
• Martin became the third Elon player to be named CAA Player of the Year, joining Stefan Fortmann and Felipe Sarrasague, who took home the award twice. 
• After going 3-0 playing No. 1 singles at the CAA Tournament, Martin was also chosen as the Most Outstanding Player of the event. This was the first time since 2019 that Elon took home both CAA Player of the Year and CAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player in the same season. 
• Martin was also named to the All-CAA First Team for singles after posting an 18-6 record, with all 18 wins coming at the No. 1 spot. He won his final six singles contests, four of which came against conference opponents. 
• Martin won CAA matches against Hampton, College of Charleston, two against Delaware, North Carolina A&T, Monmouth and UNC Wilmington. He also won a singles match against No. 35 North Carolina State and was named CAA Player of the Week after the victory. 
• Since coming to Elon, Martin is 35-12 in completed singles contests. 
• In addition to his accolades on the court, Martin was also selected as Elon's Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year and received the CAA's 2022-23 Leadership and Sport Excellence Award for men's tennis. 

SUPER SOPHOMORES

• As a freshman last season, Veljko Krstic became Elon's first player to win CAA Rookie of the Year and was also named to the All-CAA Second Team for singles.
• The Belgrade, Serbia, native went 16-4 in singles last season, with 15 of the victories coming at the No. 3 position. 
• Krstic won conference matches against Hampton, College of Charleston, Delaware, William & Mary, North Carolina A&T and Monmouth. He also clinched a dramatic 4-3 victory over Campbell with a win at No. 3 singles and won 13 of his matches in straight sets.
• Krstic went 3-1 in final sets last season. Two of the wins came in match tiebreaks while the other came in a full third set. 
• Krstic picked up the second win of his career at the No. 2 spot in Elon's match against Georgia State on Jan. 20. He has played the No. 1 spot in Elon's other two matches. 
• Fellow sophomore Oskar Antinheimo is also coming off a strong debut season with the maroon and gold.
• The Helsinki, Finland, native went 14-6 in singles and finished the season on a four-match winning streak. Nine of the victories came at the No. 5 spot. 
• After a 2-0 start to the season in singles, Antinheimo was chosen as the CAA Player of the Week on Jan. 23. It was the second time he has won the award in his career. 
• Antinheimo won three CAA weekly honors last season – CAA Co-Doubles Team of the Week on Jan. 25, CAA Player of the Week on Feb. 14 and CAA Doubles Team of the Week on March 28, which he earned with Krstic. 
• For the fourth time in his career, Antinheimo came from a set behind to win a singles match in Elon's season opener against Wake Forest on Jan. 15. He defeated Luciano Tacchi, the No. 78 ranked player in the most recent ITA singles rankings, 10-3 in a match tiebreak. 

VERSATILE ZIPAY 

• Senior Ben Zipay enters 2024 coming off the most productive campaign of his Elon career.
• Zipay went 23-10 last season across singles and doubles, with 12 singles and 11 doubles victories. 
• The 12 singles victories all came at the Nos. 5 and 6 positions and were tied for the third most on the team behind just Daniel Martin and Veljko Krstic.
• Of Zipay's 12 singles victories last season, 11 came in straight sets.  
• In doubles, Zipay teamed up with Nicholas Condos last season to earn CAA Doubles Team of the Week honors twice. The duo earned All-CAA Third Team recognition in doubles.
• In Elon's most recent match against No. 25 North Carolina on Feb. 8, Zipay picked up a win at No. 3 doubles alongside partner Juan Sengariz. 

NEW GUYS ON THE BLOCK

• Elon welcomes four newcomers for the 2024 season ­– transfers Dylan Heap and Juan Sengariz, and freshmen Jack Curtis and Alonso Roca. 
• Heap joins the Phoenix after completing prior stints at the University of Minnesota (2019-21) and Rice University (2021-23). Heap won 10 dual doubles matches in his two seasons at Rice and appeared at the Nos. 1-4 singles spots for the Owls.
• Sengariz comes to Elon after spending the last two seasons at Anderson University. Sengariz had a career singles record of 19-4 at Anderson and was named to the South Atlantic Conference Second Team for singles in 2022 and the league's First Team for singles in 2023. Sengariz was also named Anderson's MVP for the 2023 season. 
• Roca appeared in all four of Elon's fall tournaments while Curtis joined the Phoenix in January for the spring season. 
• Curtis, Heap and Sengariz all made their dual-match debuts in Elon's season opener against Wake Forest. Curtis won at No. 6 singles while Sengariz and Heap both appeared in singles after pairing up at No. 1 doubles. 

CURTIS SHINES IN IMPRESSIVE ELON DEBUT

• Freshman Jack Curtis joined the Phoenix in early January. He made his college tennis debut on Jan. 15 in Elon's season opener against No. 15 Wake Forest.
• Curtis played No. 3 doubles with fellow Englishman Daniel Martin before appearing at No. 6 singles against Wake Forest's Saud Alhogbani.
• In the opening set of his singles match, Curtis grabbed an early break and got another late to earn a 6-3 win. After dropping the second set, the match went into a decisive 10-point tiebreak. 
• Curtis won the first two points of the breaker but fell behind 6-3. However, the freshman rallied to win seven of the next eight points on his way to a 10-7 victory, which clinched Elon's first point of the season as a team. 
• To read more about his impressive Elon debut courtesy of Rising Phoenix, click here.

MEET THE CAPTAINS

• Daniel Martin and Ben Zipay are Elon's captains for the 2024 season. 
• Martin is a Letchworth, England, native who joined the Phoenix during the 2021-22 season after spending two years at Minnesota. 
• Zipay hails from Osprey, Florida, and was Elon's Most Improved Player Award last season.  
• To learn more about Elon's captains courtesy of Rising Phoenix, click here. 

 
TWO-TIME DEFENDING CAA FINALISTS

• Elon advanced to the championship match at the CAA Tournament for the second consecutive year in 2023. The tournament was hosted by William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. 
• As the tournament's No. 3 seed, the Phoenix opened with a 4-1 victory over No. 6 Delaware in the quarterfinals. Singles was played first due to the match being moved indoors. Daniel Martin, Oskar Antinheimo and Nicholas Condos all won their matches to put Elon up 3-1, allowing Nicholas Campbell to clinch the victory with a thrilling three-set win on Court 2.
• In the semifinals, Elon lost the doubles point to No. 7 Monmouth but rolled in singles to earn a 4-1 win. Campbell again secured the decisive point for the Phoenix after Martin, Ben Zipay and Veljko Krstic won their contests.
• In a rematch of the 2022 championship match, No. 1 UNCW defeated Elon 4-1 to defend its conference title. 
• Last year marked the first time since joining the CAA that Elon has advanced to the championship match in consecutive years. 

 
THE LEONARD ERA

• Head coach Michael Leonard is entering his 20th season leading the Phoenix.
• During Leonard's time at Elon, he has compiled an impressive 284-171 record and lead the program to three NCAA Tournament appearances. He also guided the maroon and gold to its maiden CAA championship in 2019. 
• Since joining the CAA in 2014, Leonard has led Elon to three conference championship matches, with all three coming in the last four editions of the tournament. Only UNCW and William & Mary have qualified for more CAA championship matches since Elon joined the conference.  
• Elon has won at least one match in all its appearances in the CAA Tournament. The Phoenix has advanced to at least the semifinals in eight consecutive seasons. 
• Leonard was named CAA Coach of the Year in 2019 and took home Southern Conference Coach of the Year on six occasions. 
• Under Leonard's leadership, the program has amassed 74 all-conference selections, six conference players of the year, six conference rookies of the year, while three singles players and two doubles teams have earned bids to the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships.
• Leonard welcomes first-year assistant coach Garcian D'Cruz to his staff for the 2024. 

HOME COOKING

• Elon finished the season with a 10-1 mark at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center last season. The Phoenix went 10-2 in home contests, as the team lost its only match this season at the Piedmont Indoor Tennis Center. 
• Elon's win against Dartmouth on March 21 secured an 11th straight season with a winning home record. The last time the Phoenix did not finish with a winning home record was 2012. 
• Since the start of the 2013 season, Elon is 98-23 in home matches. 

SCOUTING SOUTH CAROLINA STATE

• The Bulldogs enter Tuesday's contest with a 1-2 record this season. All three matches have been on the road. 
• In its most recent match against Coastal Carolina on Feb. 5, South Carolina State won 4-2 for its maiden victory of the season. They won the doubles point and then took three singles matches to secure the win. 
• South Carolina State is coming off a MEAC Tournament title and NCAA Tournament appearance in 2023. The Bulldogs defeated Norfolk State and North Carolina Central en route to its conference championship and faced South Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. 
• The Bulldogs are led by head coach Hardeep Judge.  

UP NEXT
Elon will play a pair of home matches at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center over the weekend, beginning with Campbell on Saturday at 1 p.m. On Sunday, the Phoenix will host UNC Asheville at 2 p.m.