The Southern Conference tennis champions only lost one individual match on their way to winning the SoCon championship. Team members from left: (First row) Kyle Smialek and Kevin Beard: (Top row) head coach Michael Leonard, Clark Howell, Anuwat Dalodom, Gustaf Asplund, Austin Fenn, Damon Gooch, Sebastian Bredberg, Kevin Colin, Mason Schmerhorn and Alex Garrett.
The Phoenix started the day off by winning the number two and three doubles for the first point. This was the first time Elon beat the Cougars in doubles.
“Doubles set the tone,” coach Mike Leonard began. “The rest of the match was set into motion by us getting that doubles point. They were forced to play uphill.”
After Elon claimed the doubles point, College of Charleston tied the match by picking up its only point when Justin Malina defeated senior Sebastian Bredberg [7-6, 6-0] in the four slot. However, the tie was short lived after senior Austin Fenn won in straight sets [6-3, 6-2] over Charleston’s Perry Allen to give the Phoenix a 2-1 lead, which it never relinquished.
After junior Anuwat Dolodom sqeaked by Marcus Digliodo [7-5, 6-4] to lengthen the lead to 3-1, sophomore Gustaf Aspland finished off Charleston by coming back from a one set deficit to beat Scott Meyers [4-6, 6-1, 6-1].
“Watching those guys celebrate and enjoy the moment,” Leonard recalled. “It reminded me of that feeling I had in 1990 following our championship.”
Leonard, who won his second straight SoCon coach of the year award, played on the 1990 Elon tennis team that won the NAIA Division I championship.
Ideally, the next step for the Phoenix is the NCAA tournament, but Leonard knows there is a good amount of work before the opening round matches on May 11.
“We need to get into better shape,” he said. “It is going to be a lot hotter playing in the eighties and nineties than when we started in January. Conditioning is key.”
As with most tournaments, seeding plays a big role in how far a team can advance. The tournament consists of 64 teams with 16 regional sites. Each site has four teams seeded by the NCAA.
“Normally if you win the conference, you’ll be a four seed,” Leonard said. “But I think we might get a three since we’re ranked 44. The importance of the three seed is to avoid playing one of the top teams in the nation in the first round.”
The Phoenix find out what regional they will go to, as well as their seeding, next Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. on ESPNews.
Regardless of the Phoenix’s outcome in the tournament, the team is proud of its accomplishments.
“Part of the reason we do all this is to bring a banner into [Alumni] gym, or show off that trophy in the trophy case,” Leonard continued, “we take pride in bringing success to the school.”