The Elon University men’s tennis team swept North Carolina Central University on Sunday, winning 7-0 in its first home match. This is Elon’s first win of the season after losing against Rice and Wake Forest to start the season.
To open the match, Elon won the doubles point with back-to-back victories. Junior Daniel Martin and freshman Oskar Antinheimo won 6-2 before senior Nicholas Condos and junior Ben Zipay matched them by winning 6-2.
Elon followed up its strong doubles performance by breezing through singles, starting with freshman Ahmed Hosni, who won 6-0, 6-0. He was followed by Condos, who won 6-0, 6-1. Martin clinched the match for Elon, scoring the fourth point by winning 6-0, 6-2 against Central’s Sebastian Pino.
“It could’ve been tough if we weren’t focused and concentrated,” Martin said. “But it was nice to get a win at home. Hopefully, we can take it forward.”
Freshmen Antinheimo, Hosni and Veljko Krstic all finished out their matches with big wins as the only freshmen in Elon’s lineup. Antinheimo won 6-1, 6-1 and Krstic 6-2, 6-2. The freshman trio has combined for five singles victories in Elon’s last two matches.
“I feel like our guys were really dialed in from beginning to end, and I was impressed with that,” head coach Michael Leonard said. “Sometimes, you get in these situations where you lose focus and next thing you know you’re in a war with some players.”
Elon will look to further this momentum in its next match at Campbell University on Feb. 7.