Elon University women’s tennis beat Richmond 4-0, winning their eighth straight match, Sunday afternoon.
Elon triumphed over the Spiders at the Piedmont Indoor Center. The match venue was changed from the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center after unexpected rain in the morning.
The Phoenix will return to the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center this Wednesday hosting a Colonial Athletic Association opponent at the University of Delaware Blue Hens at 1 PM.
Coach Elizabeth Anderson explained: “They did a great job adapting as soon as we said this was the plan. They went with it. They were locked up. So, I think it was good. I’m happy that today we were able to play and make a good game.”
The women’s match was played concurrently at the facility with the Elon University men’s tennis team. Only four games could be played at a time for either team, so a clinch format was used, meaning that the game was stopped when one team reached four points.
Elon improved to 13-3 overall and now had eight straight game wins, his longest streak since nine straight in 2020. On the other side of the coin were the Spiders out of the Atlantic 10 Conference. Richmond has now lost seven consecutive games and hasn’t won since mid-February.
The pair of double No. 2 freshman Madison Cordisco and senior Julie Ball carried the energy early, knocking down their opponent 6-3. Freshman Helen Sarikulaya and sophomore Miray Konar identically matched first doubles win to clinch the first point for the Phoenix.
Senior Sibel Tanik won her fourth straight singles match, with a score of 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 in first place. Tanik is 11-3 for singles during the 2023 campaign. Cordisco completed the penultimate win in the most thrilling match of the day, cruising to a 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 victory at No. 2 in singles. Sarikulaya also won for the Phoenix 6-3, 6-4.
In the last four games, Cordisco has split wins and losses, 2-2. Despite a tough stretch coming today, she hasn’t let the way she normally carries or conducts herself on the court be swayed, even with a small transfer just hours before the scheduled start. Cordisco was incredibly enthusiastic and was cheering loudly not only for her teammates, but for herself as well.
Young Lizette Reding and graduate student Olivia Archer’s matches all went unfinished due to the clinch format. With one more win, Archer would tie Elon’s all-time singles win record.
Photo Credits: Elon University website
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