Men’s, women’s tennis teams prepare for SoCon
play
Andrew High / Sports Editor
Ask Elon mens and women’s tennis coach Tom Parham why
his two tennis teams aren’t winning (the men are 0-2,
the women 0-3) and he’ll tell you about chickens.
“You can’t make chicken salad until you get the
chickens,” he said. “And right now we’ve
got some young chickens.”
Parham said both of Elon’s tennis teams have struggled
with a lack of experience. This year’s women’s
team fields seven sophomores and freshmen and lost its No. 1
starter, sophomore Kelly Fleck, to off-season wrist surgery.
Evin Prelec, a freshman, plays as the team’s No. 1
seed. Prelec notched the team’s only win in a match,
defeating Georgia Southern’s Ciara Finucane 6-3, 6-4
Feb. 29.
The men’s team went 15-4 last year on the way to
winning the Big South Conference title, beating six out of
the seven Southern Conference teams it faced. The team starts
three freshmen and will have to recover from key off-season
losses.
“We had a really good team and we lost three
starters,” Parham said. “We have a really good
one player in Pramote Malasitt, a 3.9 (GPA) pre-med (school)
all conference player. We lost two opening matches, but
College of Charleston won the (Southern Conference) last
year. Then we played Yale and they were a Top 70 team in the
country, so they weren’t bad losses.”
Parham said he thinks the men and women’s teams will
need time to adjust after making the leap from the Big South
Conference.
“I think we need to just get in here and learn our way
around a little bit and be as competitive as possible,”
Parham said. “The girls are still awfully young. They
had five freshman starters last year. I think Elon can play
in this league, and I think it’s the best thing, bar
none, that’s has happened to Elon since I’ve been
here.”
Parham also said that the women’s team especially will
struggle as the tennis program takes on better teams.
“To be fair to the girls, historically our men’s
program has been better than the girls,” Parham said.
“The men are capable of playing a tougher schedule.
With me coaching both teams, both teams have to play the same
people and the girls are overmatched a lot. I think in the
future our women’s team will catch up with the men, but
they’re going to have to take their lumps for a little
while.”
Even with their current records, Parham said he thinks both
teams can be successful against Southern Conference teams,
having proven so last year.
“I think if we finish in the top third of the league,
that will be a really great start for us,” Parham said.
“We had a streak here where we won the conference
championship 11 years in a row. I think with a little time we
can to be right back maybe dominating that league.
We’ve got a D-I facility and a D-I school.
There’s no reason we can’t attract the kind of
players who can play in the Southern Conference.”
The men’s and women’s teams are back in action
Friday when they travel to Chattanooga. Their next home
matches are March 16 against Appalachian State.
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