Clemson men’s tennis traveled to Waco, Texas this weekend to take part in the ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Tigers suffered their first defeat of the season on Sunday, losing an opportunity to play No. 2-ranked Baylor after falling 1-4 to the Miami Hurricanes.  

On Monday, however, Clemson stormed back, sweeping William & Mary 4-0 before returning home.  

Clemson head coach Robbie Weiss reflected on the good and bad of the Tigers’ long weekend.  

“It was nice to bounce back after [Sunday] and get a win,” said Weiss. “The loss to Miami was disappointing, we didn’t dig deep enough. The boys responded well in singles [on Monday] against William & Mary.” 

The Sunday match vs. Miami was hard-fought, as the match’s first point was decided on a Miami tiebreaker victory over Clemson’s freshman doubles duo of Trey Stinchcomb and Maxwell Smith.  

Senior Teodor Giusca was the only Tiger to capture a point on Sunday, defeating Miami’s Bojan Jankulovski 6-2, 6-0.  

Clemson and Miami had met 59 times prior to this match, and the Miami win evens the series 30-30 all-time.  

The next day, Clemson found similar struggles on the doubles courts.  

Facing a William & Mary team that has yet to secure a win this season, the Tigers squeaked out a victory on the doubles courts. Clemson took home two victories in doubles, fueled by tiebreaker wins from Giusca/Azuma and Plans Gonzales/Whitaker.  

Dominance on the singles courts followed the doubles points. Clemson secured the match victory with three singles’ wins, none of which saw a tiebreaker or a third set.  

Ryuhei Azuma cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win on court one and Teodor Giusca followed suit, winning 6-2, 6-1 on court two. Spencer Whitaker finished up the match with a 6-3, 6-4 win on court four.   

This was Clemson’s tenth time facing William & Mary, and the Clemson victory will move the series record to 8-2.   

Clemson now moves to 4-1 (0-1 ACC) on the season, still holding a very strong record as the team approaches conference play.   

With the strong record, Weiss is looking forward to the Tigers’ next match.    

“We need to continue to improve our doubles as we head into next weekend’s match against South Carolina,” he said. “We’re excited to get back to work and head down to Columbia.” 

Clemson’s next match comes this Friday, as they visit in-state rival South Carolina in Columbia.