With a 4-0 win against Boston College on Friday and a 4-2 over SMU on Sunday, Clemson men’s tennis improved to 15-1 (4-0 ACC). Fueled by their first top 25 team ranking since 2015, the Tigers played with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove.
In their travel-heavy weekend, the Tigers flew to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, then to Texas and finally back to play at The Duckworth Family Tennis Facility. Ultimately, the grueling road trip was a test the Tigers passed with flying colors.
“The traveling is tough,” senior Maxwell Smith said. “Some early mornings, delayed flights, but it just shows the maturity we have as a team — to show up and have good practices and good matches no matter what’s going on with traveling.”
In the first leg of the road trip, the Tigers built on their quick culmination of the doubles point with three straight-set singles wins from Noa Vukadin, Romain Gales and Edoardo Chérié Lignière. Vukadin’s match was the clincher, a result that stopped the bleeding for Boston College — at the time, Smith was serving at 5-4 40-0, and Wissam Abderrahman was up a break in the third set.
After soaring past the Eagles, the Tigers soon returned to court against SMU. Amidst a 1-1 score in doubles, it all came down to Court No. 1, hosting Vukadin and Smith against SMU’s Georgi Georgiev and Ofek Shimanov. Ultimately, the tides favored the Tigers, as they tend to do when Vukadin and Smith are part of the equation.
From there, Clemson’s Viktor Markov and Gales were the first to add fuel to the flame, as their straight-set wins propelled the Tigers’ point total to three. At the same time, however, No. 61 SMU had snuck two singles wins out of nowhere, setting the score at 3-2. As the Mustangs searched for a lifeline, Vukadin dug deep on Court No. 2 with a textbook comeback win, getting his second clinch of the weekend as he defeated Georgi Georgiev 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, capping an undefeated weekend in both singles and doubles.
“Leaving, we knew we could win both matches. So it feels good having won both matches. It felt like a business trip, to be honest. We took care of it,” Smith said.
On a weekend characterized by business, the team brought its suits and briefcases. Clemson’s Gales impressed, winning all four singles sets, while freshman player Chérié Lignière built on his impressive performance last weekend, earning a second straight-set singles win in as many matches. Yet despite another imposing display, the team insisted on keeping the champagne on the shelf.
“Yeah, we enjoy the wins, but once practice rolls around and the week starts, it’s a new mission,” Smith said about their post-match celebrations.
The Tigers have had plenty to celebrate this year, and for that, they undoubtedly owe some flowers to their lead doubles team: Vukadin and Smith. Thanks to two more doubles victories this weekend, the duo is at 12-0 in their last 12 matches, a streak extending back to January.
“My job is to clean up the net,” Smith said. “But I serve well, which helps him out. I’m the clean-up guy. I do the dirty work and Noa hits the pretty shots on the forehand. That’s why we are working so well together.”
With Vukadin and Smith’s recent untouchable performances, the Tigers always seem to be serving with the advantage from the moment the match starts. But as Clemson’s reliable duo, Vukadin and Smith have found chemistry and camaraderie synonymous.
“Just great friends, great teammates,” Smith said. “Over the fall, when we were traveling a bunch together and playing together in tournaments, we grew closer, which has bled into this season as well. We are both hungry to get better.”
This weekend, the Tigers take their business back to The Duckworth Family Tennis Facility as they take on No. 53-ranked UNC on Friday at 5 p.m. and No. 11 Duke on Sunday at noon. Their battle with the blue bloods is not one you want to miss.
“We are hungry. We are ready to go for whoever we play,” Smith said. “There’s trust within each other and the team that we are going to show up.”
