THE PENDULUM
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY. FEBRUARY 10. 2010// PAGE 21
Men’s and women’s tennis struggle
against top-ranlced opponents
Sam Calvert
Sports Editor
WOMEN’S
IVIEN’S
It was a busy day Saturday as the Elon women’s tennis team took on Winston-
Salem State University in the morning at home before driving to Chapel Hill to
play the No. 11 University of North Carolina. The team split matches, defeating
Winston-Salem State 7-0 before losing to North Carolina by the same score.
When the team walked off the court that evening, it was for the last time until
Feb. 18, when the Phoenix will travel to UNC
Wilmington.
“We competed hard," head coach Elizabeth
Anderson said. “It was a long day."
In its first match, Elon swept Winston-
Salem 7-0, not giving up more than four
games in any one match.
Later in the afternoon, the Phoenix met a
different fate, falling 7-0 to North Carolina.
While the team dropped each of its singles
matches, its No. 1 doubles team of senior
Anna Milian and sophomore Elisa Simonetti
beat the No. 28-ranked duo, Jocelyn Ffriend
and Haley Hemm 8-6.
“We really put up a fight," freshman Briana
Berne said. “The score is not really indicative
of that.”
Now, the team is looking at a 12-day break
between Saturday’s matches and its next
match in Wilmington.
Anderson said the Phoenix is going to use
this time to work on specifics, such as the
team’s overall doubles play.
“I think that can be one of our biggest
weapons," she said.
The team is also going to be preparing for
the upcoming stretch of matches, including
the next one against the UNCW Seahawks,
Anderson said.
Elon will only be UNCW’s second match
since Jan. 23, when it beat Norfolk State
University 6-1.
According to Anderson, the team expects
to win the match.
“It's going to be a tough match, but they
are definitely beatable," Anderson said. “And
they are definitely a team we want to beat.”
Berne said even though the non-conference
matches do not count toward the conference
tournament, there is still pressure to do well.
The team’s match-play experience is
valuable to its performance, she said.
“We can’t get the same experience from
practice that we can in match play,” Berne
said.
Anderson said these matches will also
help because many of its non-conference opponents look similar to teams in the
Southern Conference.
The four matches the team has before it takes on its first SoCon opponent will
give the team a chance to fine-tune its play, Anderson said.
“We want to work on basic consistency so that we give ourselves a chance,”
Berne said. “If anything, we want to give anyone we play a fight.”
FILE PHOTO
Junior Philip Nemec and doubles partner junior Chase Helpingstine lost their match
Saturday 8-7 (8-6) against UNC Wilmington. Afterward in singles play, Nemec came
back to defeat UNCW’s Michael Pereira 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 at line one.
In a match that came down to the doubles point, the Elon men’s tennis
team fell to its fourth nationally-ranked team of the spring season on
Saturday.
The team lost 4-3 to UNC Wilmington but looks to rebound for its first
win of the year at noon Saturday at home.
“This is the strongest non-conference
schedule we’ve had yet," head coach
Michael Leonard said. “It’s forcing our
team to grow up quick."
Although No. 1 junior Philip Nemec,
No. 2 Junior Chase Helpingstine and No.
4 Alberto Rojas secured victories for the
Phoenix in singles, the team dropped the
initial doubles point with losses at all
three lines.
“We have to fix doubles," Helpingstine
said. “But in singles, everyone competed
well.”
Leonard said the team was working on
its doubles trouble, mixing up the line-up
and starting over.
He said he wanted to split up the best
players to create three stronger doubles
teams instead of just having one good
team.
Playing against ranked teams in the
non-conference is an advantage because
every team in the conference will have
at least one or two high-caliber players,
Helpingstine said.
“We’re going to need a full team
effort if we want to pull out some wins,”
Helpingstine said.
The next match for the team will be
a rematch from last year against North
Florida, where Elon won 4-3 in Jacksonville,
Fla.
“We played last year in a tough match,”
Helpingstine said. “We definitely want our
first win of the season.”
On Sunday, the team will travel to
Columbia, S.C. to take on No. 45 University
of North Carolina. According to Leonard,
the strength of the non-conference
schedule will help the team when it
reaches Southern Conference play. The
tough matches have given the young team
a chance to gain experience, he said.
“Our players have really stepped up and
embraced the challenge,” Leonard said.
“They don’t look out of place out there."
The men will begin SoCon play on March 6, when Elon hosts Georgia
Southern University.
Last season, Elon finished second in the conference behind Furman
University, with a 9-1 conference record.
“Our whole goal is to do well in the conference," Leonard said. “If we play
well, we can win any of these matches."
High hopes for addition
of ice hockey team
PHOTO SUBMITTED
A few Elon students form a team and compete in a men’s ice hockey league at the Greensboro Ice
House t>ecause ttie university currently does not have an organized ice hockey team.
Sam Calvert and Tori Veight
Sports Editor and Reporter
The chill of the air. The slap of sticks.
The swoosh of skates. The atmosphere
of the Greensboro Ice House is electric
as a men's league ice hockey team whirls
across the ice.
One of the men on the team is Elon
sophomore T.J. O’Malley. While Elon
does not currently have its own team,
O’Malley said he wants to see ice hockey
added to the list of club sports offered
by the university.
“Ever since I first set foot on campus
it has been my dream to be able to make
a difference here and help in the process
of making Elon one of the most desirable
and complete schools in the country,"
O'Malley said. “1 strongly believe that
bringing an Ice Hockey program to Elon
is my opportunity to do so.”
Tlie university does offer the similar
sport of roller hockey, and according to
O'Malley, many of the men who play on
the roller hockey team were originally
ice hockey players.
He said many of the participants had
to adjust to the new sport because there
was not an ice hockey option offered at
Elon.
Kevin Barr, a freshman on the
roller hockey team, is one of those
participants.
Barr said he believes while roller
hockey is fun, it is also very different
and does not quite satisfy the ice hockey
players’ need to play.
He, along with O'Malley and many
others, instead participate in a men’s
ice hockey team at the Greensboro Ice
House.
Some have expressed concerns about
adding the sport.
One is that adding a club ice hockey
team would in turn cause the roller
hockey team to discontinue.
Although O’Malley wants to add an
ice hockey team, he said it is not his goal
to have roller hockey eliminated from
the list of sports available.
Instead, he said he wishes to add ice
hockey to the list without erasing any of
the existing club sports.
Another concern is ice hockey would
cost too much.
O’Malley said he wants to address
this issue in practical ways.
“1 know there may be some concerns
with cost,” O’Malley said. “I have ideas
to raise money and decrease the costs
of playing, such as fundraisers, raffles,
events, donations, etc. so that money
would not be an issue."
He even held a raffle while at home
that raised nearly $1,000 to go towcird
team fees.
O’Malley said he believes by offering
ice hockey as a club sport, Elon would be
expanding its prospective student base.
Even though Elon is in the South,
many of the students, 34 percent
according to the Elon University Web
Site, are from the North, where hockey is
mm-e popular.
“Ice hockey is a great sport that is in
high demand here at our school, and all
of our students, families, friends, faculty
and staff deserve to have the chance to
participate in, become involved with,
and overall enjoy ice hockey," O’Malley
said.