CLEMSON, S.C. – Facing its fourth top-20 opponent in the past nine days, the Clemson women’s tennis team was unable to overcome a very-talented and highly-ranked No. 5 Georgia team on Saturday afternoon, falling 7-0 at the Duckworth Family Tennis Facility. With the loss, the Tigers dropped to 4-4 overall, while the Bulldogs improved to 3-0.
After the Bulldogs took the first doubles match at No. 2, the Tigers’ third-ranked duo of Marie-Alexandre Leduc and Fernanda Navarro picked up a solid 6-3 win at No. 1 over Lourdes Carle and Vivian Wolff. Meanwhile, Clemson’s Alex Angyalosy and Laura Marti were in a battle on Court 3. The duo trailed 1-5 to open the match, and fought all the way back to 5-5 before the Bulldogs took the doubles point with a 7-5 win. It was a tremendous comeback effort by the two Tiger sophomores.
Photos by Emily Goad:
“I was very proud of our Tigers' fight tonight, from every position in our lineup," said Head Coach Nancy Harris. "Doubles play was exciting and much improved, particularly at three doubles, which came back from a 5-1 deficit. Georgia played as a top-five team in the country would, and it will help us better our program by what we learned from this match. Hats off to an awesome crowd tonight who hung in there and supported our Tigers to the end. We thank you!!!”
Every player in Georgia’s singles lineup was ranked in the ITA’s top 125, including the No. 1- and No. 14-ranked players in the nation, which Leduc and Navarro faced at No. 1 and No. 2 singles, respectively. Ultimately, the Bulldogs swept the singles matches, but the Clemson players put up a fight until the end, particularly Angyalosy at No. 5 and Marti at No. 6.
UP NEXTThe Tigers host Virginia Tech on Friday, Feb. 8 in a 3 p.m. match at the Duckworth Family Tennis Facility. It will be Clemson’s last home match in the month of February, as the team hits the road for its following three contests before returning to Tigertown for matches on March 1 and 3.
