Clemson men’s tennis improved to 4-0 with a narrow 4-3 victory over the Florida Atlantic Owls in Boca Raton, Florida, this Saturday.
After losing the doubles point, the Tigers dug deep and found an extra gear, winning four of the 6 singles points to secure a dramatic road win.
The script couldn’t have been written much better as the Tigers battled to keep their undefeated streak alive. After back-and-forth battles in doubles and singles, the Tigers were at a 3-3 stalemate with the Owls. All eyes were on Maxwell Smith and Marek Pazdera on court No. 6 as their deciding match came down to a winner takes all third set.
“When I realized it was going to come down to my match, the mindset is just to take it one point at a time and just know that you are there for a reason,” Smith said. “All of the hard work, the practices, the boys supporting you. It’s what you want.”
At 5-3, Smith served with three match points on his racquet. But as fate had it, Pazdera battled to get back on serve at 5-4. The tension was tangible, but Smith held on to his nerve as he broke Pazdera’s serve immediately after to win the match 7-6, 3-6, 6-4. With the unwavering support of his teammates, Smith couldn’t have been happier with his clutch performance.
“When they are cheering for you, and you are looking over at them, you just think of all of the practices, fitnesses, conditioning and all sorts of stuff like that that leads up to these moments. The feeling to pull it through for them — there’s no other feeling like it.” Smith said. “It was emotional.”
Wissam Abderrahman used a different word to describe the feeling of watching his teammate battle for the win: “Stressful.”
But before he was cheering on Smith, Abderrahman weathered some stress of his own. FAU was up 3-2, and with Segundo Goity up 4-0 in the third set, it seemed like the Owls were minutes away from flying to victory.
But Abderrahman had other plans.
Behind a few big break points, Abderrahman won six straight games in the third set to even the match score at 3-3 and set the stage for a dramatic finish.
“I had a good talk with coach Brandon (Wagner) about the tactics, and I just had to stay calm,” Abderrahman said.
“I was believing in myself; I think that was most important,” he added. “Always believe.”
Earlier in the day, Abderrahman lost to Goity 7-5 in doubles, which made for an especially satisfying singles result for Abderrahman.
In a windy outdoor match, the Tigers showed what makes them such a tough team to beat. Despite Noa Vukadin and Smith’s doubles win, the Owls sealed the doubles point in a 7-4 tiebreak win over Max Damm and Viktor Markov. It was the second time in two weeks that a Damm and Markov tiebreaker decided the doubles point.
“It’s a huge emphasis with us,” Smith said. “Win a doubles point, lose a doubles point — there’s still a lot of match left to be played. We always try to be a team that is tough and resilient. If we lose a doubles point we trust in all six of our guys who play singles to pull through and win.”
The Tigers are 4-0 for the first time in two years in a roller coaster of a season so far.
“A lot of emotions. A lot of stress,” Abderrahman said. “But at the end of the day, a lot of memories.”
The Tigers are back at Duckworth Family Tennis Facility next Sunday at noon to take on Michigan State, who is currently ranked No. 17.
