Elon, N.C. - On a sunny Saturday at Jimmy Powell Tennis Center, the Elon University women's tennis team brought the energy, beating South Carolina State in a nail-biting match, 4-3. Freshman Heidi Bulger clinched the match for the Phoenix with a 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 win at No. 4 singles. It marked the second time this season that her victory clinched a match for the Phoenix.

With the win, Elon improves to 8-3 on the year. SC State, which was coming off of a thrilling win over No. 65 Georgia Southern Friday, drops to 2-4 with the loss.

Doubles Recap: Behind a strong crowd at JPTC, the Phoenix secured one doubles win but SC State ultimately took the doubles point. 
 

• SC State's Nalanda Silva and Teodora Vujicic closed out a 6-2 win over Simone Bergeron and Mariana Reding at No. 2 doubles for the opening victory of the day.
• Elon fought back as Lisa Kranec and Heidi Bulger brought the energy for a 7-5 win at No. 3 doubles.
• The doubles point was decided at the No. 1 spot as Sofya Chursina and Hind Semlali edged past Elon's Miray Konar and Helen Sarikulaya, 7-5.

Singles Recap: After a not-so promising start, the Phoenix had its back against the wall, needing to pick up four singles wins out of the six matches played. Elon got wins in three of the first five to finish and Bulger pulled through at No. 4 singles to give Elon arguably its biggest win of the season.
 

• In the only singles match that did not go three sets, freshman Kranec led Valeria Teran to a quick loss, putting a point on the board early for the Phoenix, winning 6-0, 6-1 at No. 6. That improves Kranec to 9-1 for singles, which is the team's best record of 2025.
• At No. 2, Helen Sarikulaya played three ferocious sets, winning the second 6-3 but ultimately losing the match to Hind Semlali who won the first and third sets, 6-1. That put SC State ahead 2-1.  
• SC State then went ahead 3-1 as Sofya Chursina defeated Simone Bergeron in three sets at No. 1 singles. Chursina won the first and third sets 6-3 and 6-1. Bergeron won the middle frame 6-3 but ultimately lost the match.
• Elon needed to sweep the final three matches still in competition and the Phoenix got it started behind Madison Cordisco at No. 5. After dropping the opening set to Teodora Vujcic 6-4, she rebounded with consecutive 6-3 set victories.
• At No. 3, Mariana Reding knotted the match at 3-3. She won the opening set against Nalanda Silva 7-5 but dropped the second set 6-2. She closed the match with a 6-2 third set victory to deadlock the match.
• Bulger put on a show against Ashikha Amalnathan at No. 4 singles, winning her first set 6-4 and losing the second 7-5. At this point, only this match remained, as the overall score was 3-3. With both the Phoenix and the Bulldogs supporting their teammates, tensions were high. Bulger clinched the win in an impressive showing with her third set of 6-3. 

Up next: After an exciting showing from the Phoenix and an exciting win by Bulger, Elon gets ready for their next match on Friday at noon at Wofford, followed by a contest the next day at Gardner-Webb at 11:00 a.m. 

Wofford is 6-1 on the season, including a 5-2 victory over College of Charleston from the CAA. Gardner-Webb is 2-4 and has lost three straight.