Box Score (PDF)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Three of the four singles matches reached a third set, and junior Carlos Kelaidis earned a win, but the Clemson men’s tennis team was unable to prevail against a highly-talented, fifth-ranked Virginia team on Sunday afternoon in Charlottesville, Va. With the loss, the Tigers are now 8-12 (1-6 ACC), while the win brought the Cavaliers to 14-3 (5-2 ACC).
Virginia won at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles, in that order, to take a 1-0 lead in the match heading into singles play. While the Cavaliers clinched the victory with wins at No. 5, No. 6 and No. 1 singles, the remaining three singles matches were extremely close.
Kelaidis, after dropping the first set, fought back from behind to defeat Matthew Lord at No. 4 singles, 3-6, 7-6(3), 1-0(4), to put Clemson on the scoreboard. At No. 2 singles, sophomore Yizhou Liu faced 63rd-ranked Brandon Nakashima, where he lost the first set 6-1, won the second 6-1, and battled down to the wire in a 7-6(9) third-set loss. Freshman Teodor Giusca fell 6-2 in his first set at No. 3, before fighting for a 7-6(8) victory in Set 2. With the match already decided, Giusca and the Cavaliers’ Gianni Ross advanced to a 10-point super tiebreak, which ended with Ross winning, 1-0 (10).
HEAD COACH JOHN BOETSCH QUOTE“The goal for the day was to compete as a team, and the guys did a great job of that. Carlos did very well closing out a tough opponent, and Teo and Louis were both in third-set tiebreakers. Virginia is one of the top teams in the nation and we battled them down to the wire.”
UP NEXTThe Tigers return to action in one week, on Sunday, March 31 for a 1 p.m. contest against Wake Forest at the Duckworth Family Tennis Facility in Clemson, S.C. The Demon Deacons are currently ranked No. 2 in the nation.
