>Opponents:
Salem at Elon | February 22 | Elon, N.C. | 2:30 p.m.
>SALEM TENNIS BEGINS SPRING SCHEDULE AT ELON
The Salem tennis team opens the 2025 spring slate with a match against Elon on Saturday, February 22nd. The 2:30 p.m. match will mark the second-ever meeting between the two Triad schools, who first met on March 8, 2024. The Phoenix won by a 5-0 margin in that clash.
>LOOKING BACK AT THE FALL SCHEDULE FOR SALEM
Salem wrapped up the fall slate with setbacks to the trio of Guilford (September 22), Winston-Salem State (September 29) and Pfeiffer (October 6) in succession.
RECAP | vs. Guilford: The Salem tennis team dropped its first decision to Guilford in its last five matches when the two teams met at the Bert Lain Tennis Center on Sunday, September 22nd. The Quakers brought home a 5-2 win, highlighted by four singles victories.
The No. 1 doubles pair of Ashley Belnap and Erika Mendez provided Guilford with a 7-6 win over Adley Keim and Cymone Crump. Meanwhile, Jolie Nhouyvanisvong and Chandler Sizemore delivered a point for the Quakers by virtue of a 6-0 decision against first year pair Daisy Ortiz Mendoza and Samantha Smiley.
The Quakers also grabbed a 6-1 victory in No. 3 doubles as Amy Soto Salgado and LaNyia Ward took down Jessea James and Chloe Koons.
Keim tallied the first Salem point of the match in No. 1 singles, grabbing a 3-6, 6-4, 10-7 victory over Belnap. However, Guilford answered that when Mendez posted a 6-2, 6-0 win against Faint in No. 2 singles.
Crump claimed her first-ever collegiate singles victory, which came in a No. 3 clash, by virtue of a 7-6, 6-4 win over Nhouyvanisvong. Guilford added three wins in succession, including a 6-0, 6-1 win by Sizemore against Mendoza in No. 4 singles.
Salgado brought home a 6-2, 6-1 win over Smiley in No. 5 singles for the Quakers, while Lupo added the fifth Guilford point with a 6-0, 6-2 against Buckler in No. 6 singles.
RECAP | vs. Winston-Salem State: The Winston-Salem State tennis team claimed its fifth win in the all-time series with Salem by a narrow 4-3 victory when the two teams met Sunday, September 29th at the Bert Lain Tennis Center. The one-point victory by the Rams marks the second time in the head-to-head series that a victory has been divided by that margin.
Salem's No. 1 doubles tandem of Cymone Crump and Adley Keim claimed a 6-4 victory over the Rams' pairing of Semmie Moore and Brooke Higgins. However, Winston-Salem State countered with a 6-3 win in No. 2 doubles after the pair of Kyla Burns and Briana Drew downed Samantha Smiley and Chloe Koons.
The Rams earned the doubles point with a 6-2 win in No. 3 doubles after Iyana Nickens and Dezirae Black-Macon took down Mariana Faint and Daisy Ortiz-Mendoza.
Faint evened the score at one-all in the match as she delivered a 6-0, 6-4 win in No. 2 singles over Burns. Crump followed that victory with a 6-4, 6-4 triumph over Higgins in No. 3 singles, providing Salem with the 2-1 advantage in the match.
Nickens tied the score at two for the Rams with a two-set victory (6-0, 6-4) in a No. 5 singles clash with Smiley. Sophomore Alyx Diggs pushed Salem's lead by one with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Black-Macon when the two faced off in No. 6 singles.
The Rams bounced back to even the team score at three-all as Moore posted a 6-4, 6-3 win in a No. 1 singles clash with Keim. The victory hinged on the results of the No. 4 singles clash between Drew and Mendoza, where Drew emerged by scores of 7-5, 4-6, 10-7.
RECAP | Pfeiffer: The Salem tennis team closed out the fall portion of its 2024-25 schedule with a 5-2 setback to USA South Conference foe Pfeiffer when the two units met in a non-conference match in Misenheimer, N.C., on Sunday afternoon.
Pfeiffer claimed the first win of the afternoon in No. 2 doubles as Sydney Cohen and Riley Isley posted a 6-0 victory over the tandem of Alyx Diggs and Chloe Koons. That was followed by a 6-0 victory from Fanny Apostolou and Haley Ingenito, who downed Mariana Faint and Daisy Ortiz Mendoza in No. 3 doubles, resulting in the Falcons claiming the point.
Salem's No. 1 doubles team of Adley Keim and Cymone Crump ended doubles action on a positive note with a 7-5 win over the Falcons' Alison Sloop and Megan Rekieta.
Pfeiffer moved its lead to 2-0 in singles action when Isley emerged by scores of 6-0, 6-0 over Samantha Smiley in No. 6 action. That lead was extended to three as Megan Rekieta posted a 6-0, 6-2 win in No. 2 singles over Faint.
Apostolou added another point for the Falcons with her 6-1, 6-0 victory in No. 4 singles against Mendoza. Sonya Rhoades quickly moved that lead to 5-0 as she put together a 6-1, 6-0 in No. 5 singles against Diggs.
Salem closed out the match with the final two points of the afternoon, one of which came from Cymone Crump, who posted a 6-4, 2-6, 10-5 win over Cohen in No. 3 singles play. Keim followed that with a triumph over Ingenito in No. 1 singles by margins of 7-6 (9-7), 5-7, 10-6 to make for the second point for the Spirits.
>TOP STATISTICAL LEADERS FOR SALEM AFTER FALL SCHEDULE
The top individual players after the fall schedule are first year Cymone Crump (3-0) and sophomore Adley Keim (2-1).
Crump won all three matches as Salem's No. 3 seed, while Keim is 2-1 as the No. 1 seed for the Spirits.
Keim and Crump paired up for a 2-1 mark in doubles action, all of which came as the No. 1 doubles pair.
>STEELE, SPIRITS SEARCHING FOR AT LEAST FIVE WINS FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT SEASON
Salem head coach Ed Steele is in search of his fourth straight season with at least five team wins. The streak began in 2021-22 when the Spirits posted a 6-7 record, including four wins in the USA South Conference.
Salem followed that by posting five wins in 2022-23, claiming four of those wins at the Bert Lain Tennis Center. Steele's squad earned six team wins in 2023-24, posting a 3-5 record versus USA South Conference opponents. The Spirits posted four of their six wins on the road a season ago.
Steele has led Salem to at least five team match wins in seven of his eight seasons at Salem, including his first season at the helm, which came in 2015-16. In his inaugural season, Steele led Salem to six victories.
>USA SOUTH PRESEASON POLLS PLACE SALEM SIXTH
The USA South Athletic Conference's women's tennis coaches released their 2025 preseason poll on February 6. Head coaches did not vote for their own teams in the balloting.
N.C. Wesleyan, the two-time defending USA South regular season and tournament champions, was placed atop the rankings thanks to receiving 56 total points and seven of the possible eight first place votes. The Battling Bishops will look to capture their fifth regular season and tournament titles in the past six seasons. Southern Virginia grabbed 47 total points and the remaining first place vote to place second in this season's poll while Methodist rounded out the top-three with 44 points.
Salem was picked sixth in the 2025 preseason polls, receiving 22 points. Meredith was picked seventh and Mary Baldwin was selected eighth. The Spirits were 10 points behind Brevard, which was picked fifth.
>SCOUTING REPORT: ELON
The Phoenix are 5-2 as a unit, winning three straight matches to open the season against the likes of Liberty (4-3), Longwood (7-0) and Bellarmine (7-0).
After suffering a 7-0 setback at Wake Forest on January 26th, Elon responded by posting a pair of 7-0 wins over Belmont Abbey at home in a doubleheader on February 8th.
The Phoenix suffered a 4-0 setback to Charlotte in their most recent outing, which came on February 14th at Elon. Along with facing Salem on Saturday, the Phoenix will also go head-to-head against Shaw in an 11 a.m. match.
Heidi Bulger and Lisa Kranec share the team lead in individual wins (five), while the pair of Simone Bergeron and Mariana Reding along with Miray Konar and Helen Sarikulaya have four wins apiece in doubles action for the Phoenix.
