ELON, N.C. – William & Mary men's tennis team won a thrilling doubles point, but Elon rallied to pull out a 5-2 win at the Jimmy Powell Tennis Center on Sunday afternoon in CAA action.
 
W&M (5-9, 2-3 CAA) took a 1-0 lead thanks to a comeback win at the top doubles position from the duo of sophomore Nikita Bortnichek and freshman Raz Katz. The Phoenix answered by winning five of the six singles positions to pull out the league win.
 
How It Happened
- After Elon (7-6, 2-0 CAA) won at No. 2 to take the early lead in doubles, sophomore Oliver Hague and junior Albert Hansen evened with a victory on line three. The Tribe duo topped Charles Pilet and Juan Sengariz, 6-4, for its second-straight win.
- The doubles point came down to the top spot and Elon's Veljko Krstic and Oskar Antinheimo jumped out to a 4-1 lead over Bortnichek and Katz. The Green and Gold tandem rallied by winning six of the final seven games on the way to a clinching 7-5 win and a 1-0 Tribe lead. Bortnichek and Katz won their first match at No. 1 and third overall as a pair.
- Elon won in straight sets in singles at No. 1, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6 to cement the CAA victory.
- Matches at No. 2 and No. 5 went into third sets. Senior Sean Joseph came back from a set deficit to pull out the win at No. 5. After dropping the first set to Charles Pilet, 6-4, Joseph answered with a 6-2 win in the second. The Tribe senior trailed by an early break in set three, but pulled out the tiebreaker win, 7-6 (4), for his second-straight singles win and 12th overall on the year.
- At No. 2, Hague jumped out to a set advantage, winning the opener, 6-3, over Rafael Ymer. The Elon player answered with a close 6-4 win in the second and then edged Hague in a third-set super breaker, 10-8.
 
Up Next
The Tribe returns home to host CAA foe Delaware on Saturday, April 5, at 10 a.m. at the Mackesy Tennis Center. It will be Senior Day as W&M honors its senior class of Alexander Karman and Sean Joseph.
 
Elon 5, William & Mary 2
Singles
No. 1 – Veljko Krstic (Elon) def. Gur Trakhtenberg (W&M) – 6-3, 6-2
No. 2 – Rafael Ymer (Elon) def. Oliver Hague (W&M) – 3-6, 6-4, 10-8
No. 3 – Oskar Antinheimo (Elon) def. Nikita Bortnichek (W&M) – 6-2, 6-1
No. 4 – Jack Curtis (Elon) def. Albert Hansen (W&M) – 6-2, 6-4
No. 5 – Sean Joseph (W&M) def. Charles Pilet (Elon) – 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4)
No. 6 – Juan Sengariz (Elon) def. Raz Katz (W&M) – 6-4, 6-1
Finishing Order: 1, 3, 6, 4*, 2, 5, 6
 
Doubles
No. 1 – Bortnichek/Katz (W&M) def. Antinheimo/Krstic (Elon) – 7-5
No. 2 – Curtis/Ymer (Elon) def. Joseph/Trakhtenberg (W&M) – 6-3
No. 3 – Hague/Hansen (W&M) def. Pilet/Sengariz (Elon) – 6-4
Finishing Order: 2, 3, 1*