Elon 5, Georgia Southern 2
ELON, N.C. - The Elon men's tennis team opened the Southern Conference season on a high note, toughing out a 5-2 victory over the visiting Georgia Southern Eagles at The Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Saturday afternoon. The Phoenix won the critical doubles point for the second straight match and improved to 2-8, 1-0 on the season. Georgia Southern dropped to 4-7 overall, 0-1 in the league.
Elon was clinging to a 3-2 lead with match action still going on at number one and six singles. Facing match point, Elon's top singles player Philip Nemec rallied to earn a 7-6 win in the decisive third set to clinch the match for the Phoenix. Nemec outlasted Jayraj Jadeja, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5). The junior has won his last two outings.
Elon's Chase Helpingstine and Albert Rojas improved to 3-2 in dual action with an 8-3 win over Gregory Bekkers and Juan Puigventos at number one doubles before Nemec and Cody Stauffer-MacDowell picked up a 8-6 win over Jadeja and Matthijs Verdam at number two to give the Phoenix the early lead. At number three doubles, Eagle tandem Justin Flynn and Alain Garrido recorded an 8-5 win over Eric Turner and Thomas Darling.
Georgia Southern made things interesting as Verdam took a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Carlos Arboleda at number five to even the match. For the third consecutive match, Rojas was quick off the courts with a straight set victory. He defeated Bekkers, 6-4, 6-3 at number three singles to push Elon ahead 2-1.
Helpingstine improved to 6-4 in dual competition, rebounding for a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 defeat of Puigventos at number two. Garrido battled out a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 result against Stauffer-MacDowell at number four before Nemec clinched it for the Phoenix.
In the longest match of the day, and likely the season thus far, Elon's Tommy Darling survived a 7-6 (5), 4-6, 1-0 (10-4) bout with Flynn to make the final score 5-2. The first set of this match lasted 90 minutes - two other singles matches had already been completed at that point.
Elon will look to add to its conference win total when it hosts the Samford Bulldogs on Saturday, March 13 at noon.