Tigers Finish Fourth at Wingspanbank.com/WTT Tennis Championships

Oct. 8, 2000

STANFORD, CA – The Clemson men’s and women’s tennis teams participated in the Wingspanbank.com/WTT National Collegiate Tennis Championships held at the Taube Family Tennis Stadium Oct. 6-8. The Tigers finished fourth out of the 16 teams in the co-ed national championship. Clemson (3-2) won the group three title and advanced to the semifinals. They finished fourth overall, finishing behind champions South Alabama (5-0), second place Stanford (4-1), and third place Virginia Commonwealth (4-1).

The tournament is played using the WTT format that consists of teams comprised of at least two men, two women and a coach. Each team match consists of five sets, with one set each of men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. One point is awarded for each game won, and a nine-point tiebreaker is played if a set reaches five all.

Carmina Giraldo and Laurence Jayet represented the women’s team while Josh Goffi and Darren Knight were the men’s team’s representatives. The Tigers opened the tournament with a 25-26 loss to Louisiana State. LSU `s women’s doubles team of McIlhaney and Tsucamoto defeated Girlado and Jayet 6-5 while Kiernan and Ramaswami defeated Goffi and Knight 6-4. In singles action, Knight and Jayet both won their matches but Giraldo and Knight lost a 6-4 decision to Ramaswami and McIlhaney.

Clemson defeated Southern California 28-23 with singles wins from Goffi and Giraldo. Goffi defeated Moore 6-3 and Giraldo defeated Peterson 6-5. In the men’s doubles match, Goffi and Knight defeated Ryan Moore and Nick Rainey 6-4 while Goffi and Jayet defeated Tiffany Brymer and Rainey 6-3 in the mixed doubles match to clinch the victory.

The Tigers defeated the University of Minnesota 24-20 with wins behind the women’s doubles and mixed doubles teams as well as the women’s singles match. Giraldo and Jayet defeated Havelkova and Thomas 6-0 while Giraldo defeated Havelkova 6-3 in singles. Goffi and Jayet defeated Mankad and Thomas 6-5 in the mixed doubles match.

In the semifinals, the Tigers lost to South Alabama 18-26. Clemson lost in women’s doubles, mixed doubles, women’s singles, and in the overtime mixed doubles match. Goffi won the men’s singles match 6-4 over Thall, and Knight and Giraldo defeated Scheltens and Zinchanka 6-3 in mixed doubles.