After succumbing to No. 1 Wake Forest and No. 6 NC State with a score of 4-1, Clemson men’s tennis concluded its weekend by earning a much-needed 7-0 win over College of Charleston.
With only three matches remaining before the commencement of the ACC tournament, the Tigers (18-5, 6-4 ACC) are sixth in the ACC with challenges still ahead.
This weekend, the best of the best came to Duckworth Family Tennis Facility. The Tigers split their doubles points with the weekend’s two top-10 opponents. Wake Forest’s No. 3-ranked pairing of Luciano Tacchi and Luca Pow secured the doubles point for the Demon Deacons, assisted by a win from the No. 40-ranked pairing of DK Suresh Ekambaram and Charlie Robertson.
Against NC State (18-4, 10-0 ACC), however, Romain Gales and Max Damm flexed their muscles as they earned a 6-4 win over the No. 23-ranked doubles team in the country. In unison with Viktor Markov and Wissam Abderrahman’s win on Court No. 3, the Tigers found themselves up 1-0 early against the Wolfpack.
Both North Carolina schools found a spark during singles and quickly turned it into an inferno. Against the No. 6-ranked singles player in the country, Noa Vukadin made Suresh Ekambaram do it the hard way. After the Croatian stole the first set, Wake Forest’s top player mounted a miraculous comeback, winning 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
From there, victories from Wake Forest’s Ioannis Xilas and Pow put an end to the day’s battle while simultaneously rendering Maxwell Smith’s straight-set victory on court No. 6 meaningless.
After Friday’s loss to undefeated Wake Forest (28-0, 10-0 ACC), the Tigers headed into singles against No. 6 NC State up 1-0. The lead didn’t last long. NC State earned four straight-set singles wins to ruthlessly bury the Tigers’ dreams of a top-10 victory.
In need of a pick-me-up, the Tigers hopped back on the court on Sunday afternoon with College of Charleston. A 6-0 doubles win from Vukadin and Smith and a 6-3 doubles win from Gales and Damm put the Tigers en route to an emphatic conclusion to the weekend.
In singles, the Tigers didn’t drop a set. Edoardo Chérié Lignière and Matt Pitts appeared on courts No. 5 and No. 6 as both players did their part in the College of Charleston beatdown. Victories from Smith, Vukadin, Markov and Gales held some spiritual weight as the Tigers slammed the door shut on a four-match losing streak.
In its last four losses, Clemson has fallen to the No. 1, the No. 6, the No. 25 and the No. 27-ranked teams in the country. Despite its recent withering trials, the team cannot afford to blink an eye. Next week, head coach Brandon Wagner’s squad is headed to Virginia to take on two more ranked opponents — No. 73 Virginia Tech awaits the Tigers’ arrival on Friday while a trip to No. 5 Virginia looms large on Sunday.
