Skip To Main Content

Elon University Athletics

The Official Site of Elon University Athletics
Oskar Antinheimo and Garcian D’Cruz high five
Jacob Kisamore

Men's Tennis by Jacob Kisamore, Elon Athletic Communications Assistant

Men’s Tennis Returns To Courts Thursday At No. 17 North Carolina

ELON, N.C. – The Elon University men's tennis team (0-2) plays its second Atlantic Coast Conference opponent of the season Thursday, as the Phoenix travels to face No. 17 North Carolina indoors at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center at 4 p.m.
 
HOW TO FOLLOW
  • The match will begin with doubles at 4 p.m. with singles to follow shortly after.
  • Live scoring for the match can be accessed by clicking here.
  • Live video from the match can be accessed with a Playsight account at this link.
  • For live updates throughout the match, follow @ElonMTennis on Twitter and Instagram. 
 
THE MATCHUP
  • North Carolina leads the all-time series between the teams 4-0. 
  • The Tar Heels defeated the Phoenix 6-1 last season at the Cone-Kenfield Indoor Tennis Center. Oskar Antinheimo won Elon's lone point with a singles victory. 
  • This will be the third meeting between the teams in the last five seasons. 
 
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 HeapJuan 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
  • Elon lost a nailbiter against Georgia State on Jan. 20, with the Panthers prevailing 4-3 indoors. 
  • Georgia State won the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 2 doubles. At the No. 3 spot, Oskar Antinheimo and Jack Curtis delivered Elon's first doubles victory of the season with a 6-2 triumph. 
  • The Panthers won at Nos. 1 and 3 singles to take a 3-0 lead. However, Elon began battling back and eventually tied the match at 3-3.
  • Antinheimo gave Elon its first point of the match with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Georgia State's Diogo Morais at the No. 4 spot. It was Antinheimo's second singles victory in as many matches this season. 
  • Soon after Antinheimo's win, fellow sophomore Veljko Krstic powered past Gabriele Datei 7-5, 6-3 for his first singles win of the season. It was his second career victory at No. 2 singles. 
  • Curtis continued his hot start to his freshman season with a 6-0, 6-4 result over Maxwell Weir. Curtis is now 2-0 in singles with the Phoenix since joining the team in January.
  • The Panthers held on at No. 6 singles to secure a narrow 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 in 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 35-11 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. 
  • In Elon's season most recent match against Georgia State, Krstic picked up the second win of his career at the No. 2 spot.
  • 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. 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.

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 284-170 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 NO. 17 NORTH CAROLINA
  • The Tar Heels enter Thursday's contest at 3-3 on the season. They are coming off a 19-9 campaign last spring that included two NCAA Tournament victories. 
  • North Carolina is currently ranked No. 17 in the ITA team rankings. 
  • In their most recent match on Feb. 3, the Tar Heels fell 4-2 on the road at Illinois in a match played indoors. 
  • The Tar Heels are 3-1 this season in matches played at the Cone-Kenfield Indoor Tennis Center.
  • Will Jansen has played No. 1 singles in all five of North Carolina's matches this season, posting a 3-2 record. 
  • Two Tar Heels players are currently featured in the ITA singles rankings ­– Karl Poling and Will Peters, who leads the team with four singles wins this season. 
  • Phillip Jordan is tied for second on the team with three singles wins at the Nos. 3-5 spots. 
  • Peter Murphy and Patrick Schoen form North Carolina's most successful doubles team this season with four victories playing the No. 3 position. Jordan and Benjamin Kittay have three wins of their own playing the No. 1 spot. 
  • The Tar Heels are led by head coach Sam Paul, who is in his 31st season leading the program. Paul is the winningest coach in North Carolina history and has more wins than any active ACC coach. 
 
UP NEXT
Elon plays host to South Carolina State for its home opener and first outdoor contest of the season on Feb. 13. The match at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center will begin at 2 p.m. 
 
--ELON--
Print Friendly Version

Players Mentioned

Felipe Sarrasague

Felipe Sarrasague

5' 10"
Junior
Oskar Antinheimo

Oskar Antinheimo

6' 1"
Sophomore
Veljko Krstic

Veljko Krstic

6' 2"
Sophomore
Daniel Martin

Daniel Martin

6' 3"
Senior
Ben Zipay

Ben Zipay

6' 1"
Senior
Dylan Heap

Dylan Heap

6' 1"
Graduate Student
Juan Sengariz

Juan Sengariz

6' 0"
Junior
Alonso Roca

Alonso Roca

6' 1"
Freshman
Jack Curtis

Jack Curtis

5' 10"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Felipe Sarrasague

Felipe Sarrasague

5' 10"
Junior
Oskar Antinheimo

Oskar Antinheimo

6' 1"
Sophomore
Veljko Krstic

Veljko Krstic

6' 2"
Sophomore
Daniel Martin

Daniel Martin

6' 3"
Senior
Ben Zipay

Ben Zipay

6' 1"
Senior
Dylan Heap

Dylan Heap

6' 1"
Graduate Student
Juan Sengariz

Juan Sengariz

6' 0"
Junior
Alonso Roca

Alonso Roca

6' 1"
Freshman
Jack Curtis

Jack Curtis

5' 10"
Freshman