ELON, N.C. – Ever since
Ella Suk and her two fellow freshmen arrived on campus last year, they had been thinking about this moment. When the CAA tournament kicked off on Thursday morning, she was ready to put on a show.
"It's a dream to come out here and compete," Suk said. "We were just really excited to come out here, and we've talked about this since we've been here in August. It's just something we've worked for these past couple months."
Although Suk is no stranger to clinching matches, it was fellow freshman
Mariana Reding whose 6-2, 6-1 win on Court 3 was the clincher for the Phoenix.
"I love to be the clinch point," Reding laughed.
"The clinching point is indescribable," Suk added about Reding's win. "It's just such a fun feeling."
Although it can be intimidating to play in front of a large crowd in a win-or-go-home situation, Reding said she felt like she fed off what she described as a "huge crowd."
"I love it so much," Reding said. "The energy, seeing everything, see[ing] the crowd, it was just so amazing."
Even though Suk said the match was a bit nerve-racking at first, Reding said that feeling of anxiousness was normal for their postseason debuts.
"Of course there were nerves as [Suk] said, it's our first conference tournament," Reding said.
Despite the morning matchup being Suk, Reding and Simone Bergeron's first taste of the CAA tournament, the dominance – with Suk and Bergeron both notching clean sweeps in singles – displayed made it seem like it was not their first go-round, as they easily handled their respective doubles and singles matches.
"Ella and I were cheering each other on the whole time," Bergeron said. "We were really pushing each other to just keep going. Especially hearing Mar[iana], after she clinched, I was like, 'Yeah! We're in the quarterfinals now!'"
Although the tilt against No. 12 seeded Monmouth was an early morning match, the Phoenix freshman duo were anything but quiet in doubles.
"With Simone and I, the louder we are, the better we play," Suk said of their 6-3 win to secure the doubles point for the Phoenix. "We're with each other so much, we can honestly read each other's minds at this point."
Bergeron was effusive in her praise for Suk and Reding. Although it was their first conference tournament appearance, they look forward to many more in the future.
"I'm so thankful to have these two," Bergeron said. "The energy we have is incredible, and I'm so excited to spend the next three years with them."
Reding expressed similar feelings.
"We enjoy playing next to each other," Reding added.
While the rest of the team might not always be able to match how loud the trio of Reding, Bergeron and Suk can get, the messaging from the freshman to the rest of their teammates going forward is clear.
"Keep the energy up, keep supporting each other, keep uplifting each other," Reding said.
No. 5 Elon looks ahead to a quarterfinal matchup with No. 4 Drexel tomorrow morning at 10 a.m.
'Rising Phoenix' is a new student-led initiative to cover Elon Athletics. Through innovative content creation and storytelling, Elon University students will have the opportunity to highlight the moments, people and events that make an impact, leveraging the athletic department's various web and social media platforms for distribution. Follow Rising Phoenix on Twitter (@EURisingPhoenix) and Instagram (@elonrisingphoenix). Interested in joining this initiative as a content creator (video, graphics, writing, storytelling, or more)? Contact Jacob Kisamore at jkisamore@elon.edu.
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