Men’s Tennis Edged 4-3 at Miami

BOX SCORE

Coral Gables, Fla. – Clemson Men’s Tennis dropped a tight match to Miami on Sunday by a 4-3 count. The Tigers fell just short of a Florida weekend sweep after topping FSU in Tallahassee on Friday. Clemson is now 5-4, 1-1 ACC as it gets set to host the nation’s No. 1 team, North Carolina, next week. Miami improved to 3-2 and 2-0 in conference play. 

Miami took the doubles point with wins on courts one and three after Ryuhei Azuma and Spencer Whitaker had claimed a 6-1 win on court two. 

In singles play, Miami took a 2-0 lead before Teodor Giusca won in straight sets to pull Clemson within a point. Miami moved ahead to a 3-1 lead before Carlos Kelaidis closed out #64 Stefan Milicevic, 6-1, 6-3 for the highest-ranked win of his career. 

The match came down to two of Clemson’s freshmen in three-setters on courts four and five. Spencer Whitaker was able to complete his comeback, winning the deciding set, 6-3. Andrew Puscas, however, couldn’t break Vasser back, and fell, 6-4, 4-6, 4-6. 

Of Note

• Clemson fell to 30-29 all-time and 6-19 on the road against Miami.
• Teodor Giusca improved to 7-2 overall and 4-1 on line two on the season.
• Carlos Kelaidis took down #64 Stefan Milicevic on court four, the highest-ranked victory of his career. Kelaidis had been 1-7 all-time against ranked singles opponents. 
• Spencer Whitaker improved to 2-0 in ACC play. 

UP NEXT

Clemson hosts top-ranked North Carolina on Friday at 2:30 p.m. and Duke on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Duckworth Family Tennis Complex. 

For complete coverage of the Clemson men’s tennis team, follow @ClemsonMTennis on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

BOX SCORE:

Doubles (2, 1, 3)

1. #22 Aubone/Hannestad (MIA) def. Liu/Giusca (CU), 6-3
2. Azuma/Whitaker (CU) def. Soriano/Milicevic (MIA), 6-1
3. Jankulovski/Madonia (MIA) def. Kelaidis/Puscas (CU), 7-6

Singles (3,2,4,1,6,5)

1. #34 Soriano Barrera (MIA) def. Liu (CU), 6-3, 7-5
2. Giusca (CU) def. Hannestad (MIA), 7-5, 6-4
3. Jankulovski (MIA) def. Azuma (CU), 6-3, 6-2
4. Kelaidis (CU) def. #64 Milicevic (MIA), 6-1, 6-3
5. Aubone (MIA) def. Puscas (CU), 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
6. Whitaker (CU) def. Vasser (MIA), 4-6, 7-5, 6-3