Clemson Defeats Elon 4-0 in NCAA Men’s Tennis

May 11, 2007

WINSTON-SALEM, NC ­Clemson defeated Elon 4-0 in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament at Winston-Salem, NC on the campus of Wake Forest Friday afternoon.

With the win, Clemson improves to 31-9 overall and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers will play Wake Forest at Winston Salem-NC on Saturday afternoon, May 12, at 2:00 p.m. Wake Forest defeated Charlotte 4-0 in the earlier match. The Demon Deacons are seeded 13th in this year’s NCAA Tournament.

Clemson’s 31 victories are tied for the second most in school history. The 1986 team also won 31 matches. The 1980 team holds the school record with 32 wins. The Tigers are now 31-9 overall and are ranked 22nd nationally. Elon is ranked 44th nationally and ends their season with a 23-3 record overall. Elon was the Southern Conference Champions this spring. Today’s defeat was Elon’s first loss since March 7, when the Phoenix lost to Duke 6-1.

Clemson senior and Charleston, SC native Ryan Young won his match at number three singles with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Mason Schermerhorn of Elon. Young won his 34th singles match of the season. For his career, he is 112-39 in singles play and he also won his 102 career doubles match as he and teammate Jarmaine Jenkins won their number one doubles match over Damon Gooch and Schermerhorn of Elon 8-5. Young is only the 12th player in Clemson history to win over a 100 matches in both singles and doubles in a career. The last player to accomplish this feat was former Tiger Mitch Springelmeyer who played in 1993-97.

Clement Reix won his singles match over Elon’s Anuwat Dalodom 6-0, 6-1 at number two singles. Ike Belk also won his singles match for Clemson over Austin Fenn of Elon, 6-1, 6-3 at number six singles.

“We trained hard for the NCAA Tournament,” said Clemson Head Coach Chuck Kriese. “We were fortunate to start off and get the doubles point against good Elon doubles teams. Between the singles and doubles, I talked to the guys and told them that Elon will battle us tooth and nail. We were ready for a long day and that helped us. I have a lot of respect for their program.

“The doubles point sets the tone for the match, and today we were able to get that,” said Clemson’s Ryan Young. “It’s a huge momentum swing. I thought we were focused, and we were prepared for today’s match.”

We really have three number one players out on the courts with Ryan Young, Jarmaine Jenkins out there,” said Kriese. “They are tremendous leaders. We will now prepare for tomorrow’s match with Wake Forest. They are a great team and I have a lot of respect for them. In the first match, we beat them by the skin of our teeth. At the ACC Tournament they whipped us good. This is an unbelievable tennis conference with 10 teams receiving bids,” said Kriese.

Clemson 4, Elon 0 Singles 1. Jarmaine Jenkins (CU) vs. Damon Gooch (Elon) 3-6, 2-3, unf. 2. Ryan Young (CU) d. Maosn Schermerhorn (Elon) 6-2, 6-0 4. Rok Bizjak (CU) vs. Sebastian Bredberg (Elon) 6-3, 3-0 unf. 5. Carlos Alvarez (CU) d. Gustaf Asplund (Elon) 6-5 unf. 6. Ike Belk (CU) d. Austin Fenn (Elon) 6-1, 6-3

Doubles 1. Jenkins-Young (CU) d. Gooch-Schermerhorn (Elon) 8-5 2. Bizjak-Alvarez (CU) d. Dalodom-Fenn (Elon) 4-5, unf. 3. Reix-Kevin Fleck (CU) d. Asplund-Kevin Colin (Elon) 8-2