The Elon tennis teams are leaving the Southern Conference on top. They swept the titles of the 2014 conference tournament Saturday at the Champions Club.
The Elon women, who entered the tournament seeded fourth, defeated second-seeded Samford 4-2 to win their first-ever title, while the top-seeded Elon men beat Furman 4-1 for their first tournament title since 2007.
The Lady Phoenix (15-8) claimed the first team point in the final with wins at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles, then had singles victories from Frida Jansaker, Barbora Lazarova and Maria Camera Ruiz to seal the championship. Jansaker was honored as the tournament's most outstanding player.
Samford had singles wins by Stephanie N'tcha and Lauren Caballero.
The Elon men (19-4) had to rally from down 4-0 at No. 2 doubles to break the tie and earn the doubles point against the Paladins. Cameron Silverman, who was the MOP of the tournament to go along with already being the SoCon player of the year, gave his team a 2-0 edge, and then victories by Brian Kowalski and Stefan Fortmann put the match away.
Juan Sheppard had the singles win for Furman (16-9).