Clemson Tiger tennis

[Clemson_tennis]

You know what I held out against making this thread but Imma make it now.

The players this year:

59 Yannick Maden - I am hoping for a big year from Maden. He will be a solid #1 this year, something we have not had for a while. His style of play is consistent and smart. He uses looping angles in the corners of the court to set up points. He is very good against net rushers and aggressive players. Absurdly good passing shots

Ayrton Wibowo - The transfer from Auburn-Montgomery from Indonesia. Has a strange grip and hits with a lot of topspin. Athletic player. Very fun to watch. Great personality on court. Has ridiculously good hands at the net. Uses lots of slice

Gerardo Meza - Has seemingly stepped up his game for this year.Flat hitter who likes to go for the lines on his forehand weapon. He can really control a point. In trouble when he meets a player with as much power as him.

Dom Maden - Will be playing high at 4 for most of the season. He can really crack his forehand. Has the fastest forhand on the team when he gets the right ball. He eats up high balls and cracks the forehand flat and power***. The rest of his game is average. He needs the forehand to be working. Very poor serve, its fundamentally a mess.

Hunter Harrington - Tall and robotic style player. Has a big serve and forehand. Mainly a flat hitter. Goes for winners quickly in points.

Cedric Willems: Flat hitter, who likes to close the net. Pretty good at net. However he does think he is more crafty that he actually is, using too many ill-advised finesse shots

Zack Rigsby: Most athletic player on the team. Is very quick to the net and running down lobs. More fast twitch muscle than anyone else on the team. Has the hardest serve and overhead due to a very quick and snapping shoulder and wrist motion. Best for doubles where he will be teaming up with Yannick Maden at #1 doubles(they already beat the Spencer/Brasseaux team). Far too conservative in rallies in matches. Pushes the bachand roght into players' wheelhouses.




We have already lost to UGA and beat CofC. But where the season will be decided is the upcoming matches. We are ranked 70 but are better than that. The schedule this year gives much more opportunity to the team to rise than last years schedule. Matches vs LSU,Louisville,Wisconsin,Fresno State and the blue gray classic(which has teams like Auburn,Miss State,Tennessee,Alabama,Cornell,Texas Tech and Boise State). We must win about 2 or 3 of those matches to get our ranking where it needs to be heading into the ACC season.

 

[seniorbruno]

Good luck Tigers. Where did Cal Hilsman go? I see he's not on the roster anymore.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Good luck Tigers. Where did Cal Hilsman go? I see he's not on the roster anymore.

He left the team

 

[Clemson_tennis]

The key is just to start winning 4-3 decisions vs good teams. Last year we lost 4-3 to UNC,VT,FSU and Miami. Any of those matches could have been a big wins.

 

[Vicious Vik]

Clemson is weak at 2-4. They can win matches if Yannick maden faces a weaker player at 1 and they take care of business at 5 and 6. Their doubles look decent too. But they will not win 2-4 very much

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Live stats Clemson at LSU

#1 dubs off to a 4-1 lead over LSU. #3 also leads 4-2.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

One thing is for sure. The doubles team of Y.Maden and Rigsby needs to be ranked. They beat Spencer/Brasseaux and are currently routing Borsos/Simpson.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

wow, #3 dubs loses 6 straight games to end and #1 loses 7 straight games to win. Talk about going off the rails. Take a mircale to win the match now.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

LSU up 3-0.

Clemson can still win however. Willems and Harrington both lead in the 2nd set. Dom Maden has a break lead in the 3rd and Yannick Maden appears to be cruising to a win.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Sucks that Wibowo had to sit out of singles. That would have pushed Harrington to 6 and Willems to 5. They would have had good chances to win those matches.

 

[tennis_tater]

Sucks that Wibowo had to sit out of singles. That would have pushed Harrington to 6 and Willems to 5. They would have had good chances to win those matches.

Looks like LSU wrapped this one up. Why did Wibowo sit out of the singles?

 

[Clemson_tennis]

I'm guessing something to do with his wrist which he may have re-agravated im doubles.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

1. 59 Yannick Maden def. 68 Olivier Borsos 6-4 6-2 - Maden used his formula. The same formula that beat Boyajian and Spir last year. That is, sneak out the first set after a evenly matches set then cruise away in the 2nd.

2. Neal Skupski def. Gerardo Meza 6-4, 6-0 - Expected result. #2 is a little high for Meza

3. Dominique Maden def. Chris Simpson 6-1, 0-6, 6-2 - Streaky match by the look of the scoreline. This is typical for D/Maden's fire away style of play

4. Tom Knights def. Cedric Willems 6-4, 6-4 - Tight match. Knights showed grit in taking the 2nd set after being down 4-3

5. Stefan Szacinski def. Hunter Harrington 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) - Another close loss for Harrington. Hopefully he can start turning thses into wins very soon.

6. James Turbervill def. Zachary Rigsby 6-1, 6-3 -A little disappointed in the scoreline

 

[ClarkC]

4. Tom Knights def. Cedric Willems 6-4, 6-4 - Tight match. Knights showed grit in taking the 2nd set after being down 4-3

I saw 6-4, 2-4 on the LiveStats at one point, so Willems was definitely up a break and lost 4 straight games.

The streaks of losing many games in a row have been killers for Clemson so far. They need a little more mental toughness and confidence.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

I saw 6-4, 2-4 on the LiveStats at one point, so Willems was definitely up a break and lost 4 straight games.

The streaks of losing many games in a row have been killers for Clemson so far. They need a little more mental toughness and confidence.

I agree with that. As of right now the team seems like they don't believe they can win these close matches with higher rated teams. Mainly because we lost a bunch of 4-3 decisions last year. Hopefully the team gets one big win soon and gets them confidence(Louisville perhaps).

Hunter Harrington has had a bunch of close losses so far to good players. He has not been routed yet. These close losses include to, Efferding, Jha,Gomez(UK), Szacinski and Pieters. He has one win and that was over Hauk of St.Jonhns another very close match. Just a point here and there ane he will be dangerous

 

[Dawgie Dawg]

Who's the mexican guy for Clemson? He played good against Singh.

Maden looked awful. Harrington might be your most talented player, and he's a learning Freshman.

 

[dsa202]

Did DiFazio graduate?

 

[Clemson_tennis]

DiFazio did graduate

Former Tiger Clement Reix playing Alex Kuznetsov in the dallas challenger right now. Reix beat Eysseric in the 1st round and Monroe in the qualies

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Clemson plays at Louisville on Saturday. Louisville plays Ohio State today, only 1 day in between the matches. Meanwhile Clemson will have had an 8 day break since their last match vs LSU.


BTW Clement Reix won. He is in the quarters of Dallas.

 

[ClarkC]

Big drop off for Louisville this year from last few years, after the graduation of the Childs non-brothers, Austin and Simon.

 

[TopDawg]

Ohio State beat Louisville 6-1

4 of the matches were close.
http://www.uoflsports.com/livestats/m-tennis/xlive.htm

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Pretty good fight from Louisville. Stiefelmeyer will become a great player. Hopefully they gave their best effort against Ohio State and will have a letdown vs Clemson.

The Clemson women's team opens play in the national indoors vs Michigan tomorrow.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

In order to beat Louisville we have to win where we are favored. Which is at doubles,1 and 6. We can win one of the swing matches we will be ok.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Lousiville hardly ever loses at home. They have a very nice indoor facility, that has a video board and every thing. They pour money into athletics.

Lousiville lost 5 of their 6 starters from last year but replaced them with near the same amount of talent. They have an excellent coach.

The match stated very tight. Each of the 3 doubles matches were knotted at 4-4 at one point. But Louisville dug in and pulled away at 2 and 3 winning 804 and 8-5. UL would also win #1 doubles 9-8(3).

singlesClemson won 1 and 2)

1: 59 Yannick Maden def 113 Andrew Carter 6-0 6-3
Straight forward match, Carter had to have been 5'5. Very short guy. Maden pushed him around all match, with his heavy deep balls. Carter had no foothold in the match, Maden controlled all points, Carter had nothing to hurt Maden with. This is another solid win over a ranked opponent for Maden, he is climbing the rankings.

2. Gerardo Meza def Seb Stieflemeyer 7-6(8) 6-4
Steiflemeyer is likely Louisville's most talented played. The Freshman from Austria will be a good player for the Cards. So this was a very good win for Meza. This is the time of matches that he needs to win and would be a great for the team if he did. He was down 4-5 and Stieflemeyer served for the set. Meza dug deep and pulled out the break then a battle in the tiebreak. This was the match of the day.

3. Michael Lippens def Dom Maden 6-4 6-3
This turned out to be the swing match. Very tight first set but Maden had some mentally fragile moments and crackd when the set was at its close. Lippens led 5-0 in the 2nd set, before Maden made his push. Shades of his 0-5 to 7-5 set win vs CofC earlier in the year but Lippens was too good of a player to do that too. This ended up being the clinching match for Louisville.

4. Albert Wagner def Cedric Willems 6-1 6-3
Dissapointing result here. Didnt see much of this match

5. Chris Simich def Zac Rigsby 6-3 2-6 6-4
Evenly cntested match. Simich didn't do much of anything. Pushed the whole time. Rigsby was too conservative and played Simich's game despite having a bigger forehand and bigger serve. Could have gone either way. 3 even sets but not a particularly good match. Many of the points ended on random errors.

6. Luiz Elizondo def Hunter Harrington 6-2 6-3
Dissapointing scoreline like the Willems match. Harrington made far too many errors, was over-hiting the ball.

upcoming week we play Furman and Wisconsin, two matches we should win fairly easily.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

playing at Furman today at 3. I'm not sure of the Furman site has live scores.

This used to be a challenging match especially in Grrenville, but Furman is a weak team now. Wes Moran may see the singles line-up today for the first time this year for Clemson.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Clemson beat Furman 6-1. Harrington and Wibowo sat out.

Tomorrow at 10am we face Wisconsin. Weather looks clear so it will be outdoor which is great. I expect we will win, Wisconsin is not that strong this year but still we have to be sharp. Hopefully Wibowo will be ready to play.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

solid 6-1 win after dropping doubles vs Wisconsin. Will have full report later

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Great weather and the match was played outdoor which was very nice. So much better to watch outdoors.

Doubles:

Wisconsin took the doubles point which was disappointing because earlier in the year our doubles looked strong. Things have gone downhill for doubles recently.

Singles: (Clemson swept singles)

1: 75 Yannick Maden def Fredrik Ask 6-3 6-3
Maden's rank fell from 59 to 75 in the new rankings which I dont quite understand, Because since the last rankings he has only lost to #3 player in the nation and beat two other ranked players. Anyway he did not play particularly well vs Ask but Ask had no game to hurt him. Ask was a hefty lefty who hit a lot of inside out topspin shots. He was not very fit and often would give up on points.

2: Gerardo Meza def Alexander Kostanov 6-3 3-6 6-1
Kostanov is a transfer from South Carolina. Meza controlled the match, Kostanov started to re-dircet some of Meza's power in the 2nd set but Meza turned up his game in the 3rd.

3. Dom Maden def Petr Satral 6-4 6-2
One of the better matches Maden has played this year. Played smart and dictated each point with his big forehand.

4. Zac Rigsby def Billy Bertha 6-4 5-7 6-1
Rigsby should have closed this out in 2 after leading 5-3. But it did not matter in the end because Bertha did not have the stamina to battle in the 3rd set.

5. Cedric Willems def Rodney Carey 7-6(3) 4-6 6-3
This was a hotly contested match. Willems battled with the Bahamian for 3 long sets. This was a bad blooded affair with both players making questionable line calls and the umpire having to get involved in disputes. Willems has badly cheated at 4-5 for Carey in the 2nd set ball was inside the line on a passing shot but Carey called it out and ump agreed but it was in response to a call Willems made 2 points earlier. There was a question of whether or not hands would be shaken after the match but they did and the disputes did not carry on after the match.

6. Wes Moran def Quinton Vega 6-3 6-4
This was good to see Senior Moran step into 6, as Harrington and Wibowo are out right now. He is getting motivated for his senior year and played very well vs Vega. Moran did not face a break point until late in the 2nd set. Vega could not do anything to get by Moran and was left frustrated by many of the points.


next weekend Clemson plays in the Blue/Grey classic in Montgomery. That tournament features Tennessee, Auburn, Alabama, Cornell, Boise State, Mississippi State, Texas Tech and Clemson

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Blue gray coming up. Wibowo and Harrington are supposed to be ready for return. I would consider keepong Moran at 6 though. He is ready tocompete his senior year and is showing mental toughness this year. harrington is losing confidence rapidly. I would only play Harrington is the #6 player is a big hitter, because they could expose Moran's subpar movement.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Gutted today. Tennessee beat Clemson 4-3 in the clostest possible match. Doubles was played 2nd. All 3 dubs matches went to an 8-8 tiebreak. Literally one point decided the match. Up 6-5 in the breaker at court 3 2nd serve and we could not convert. #1 was up 6-4 and would have closed the door.

It's so tough. And the worst part was the double header. Alabama was a team we should beat, but Gerardo Meza(who gave a great effort to be Fickey to force doubles) had to sit out because of a groin strain. Plus Clemson was a little beat from the UT match.

Auburn tomorrow.

 

[The Dawgs]

Clemson Tennis, don't you think it's about time for a new coach. Players like Wes Moran have gotten worse. Harrington is not one iota better than when I saw him in juniors. No one gets better. It's time for a change. Auburn will most likely manhandle Clemson today. I know a top 20 american player from a couple of years ago that wanted to go to Clemson, contacted them and never heard back. They are too busy recruiting mediocre foreign players.

 

[The Dawgs]

Clemson tennis, by the way, I honestly think that right now you are the best thing Clemson tennis has going for it.
You spread the word about the program more than their coaches do. The tennis articles on clemsontigers.com are often slow appearing. I enjoy reading your knowledgeable posts. You have to be frustrated but yet you continue to try to boost the team and players. I can appreciate that.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

well we won doubles vs Auburn. I was psyched at that point But Auburn was far too strong. Ill full report later

 

[Clemson_tennis]

I updates some of the player descriptions in the OP

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Auburn 4, Clemson 1

sometimes you have to throw up your hands and say too good.

We won doubles, I was jacked up at that point. Strong effort to take doubles. Unfortunately the momentum did not carry over.

singles:

1: 23 Andrea Mies led 75 Yannick Maden 6-3 5-3
Luckinly this did not finish because it the win was already clinched for Auburn.Tjis does not go down as a loss in Maden's book. I knew this match was trouble just from the 1st few points. Maden's deep angled shots that usuallu open the court against most players were not effective here. Mies just swatted then for hard flat shots. Mies is very strong, hit the cover off the ball but only when he picked his spots. He also had great hands at the net, Maden's passing shots were picked up by Mies. Great player. It's amazing because he played 5 last year for Auburn, he has gotten very good and will likely get better. Future pro.

2: Alexander Stamchev def Gerardo Meza 6-2 6-0
Stamchev matches Meza's power and made far less errors. He played defense when needed and turned the tables to attack quickly. Very good player

4: Lukas Ollert def Ayrton Wibowo 6-3 6-4
Ollert is lightning fast, moved around the court like a rabbit. Wibowo was sticking some nice volleys but Ollert got to a lot of them.

5: Lucas Lopasso def Zac Rigsby 6-2 6-1
Rigsby had a poor weekend and met a better player in Lopasso

6: Michael Wardell def Cedric Willems 0-6 6-2 6-2
Willems started on fire. But Wardell bided his time and let Willems level drop and took advantage of it. Willems got overruled on match point. This match ended just before #1 had a chance to finish.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

So Clemson is out of the top 75. It's so crazy. One point seperates us from unranked to in the 50's or 40's. If we had converted that match point vs Tennessee we would have a win over the team ranked 18. I also think if we beat Tennessee we beat Alabama. Because their was a definite hangover from the UT match, plus Gerardo Meza sat out.

Next up is GT. Who I was looking at as a great chance, but now since they are ranked 68 it is a little bit of a downer.

 

[floridatennisdude]

Clemson is just handcuffed by the lack of junior talent available to join as walk ons to complete a solid mens roster. I can't believe that they haven't developed a steady pipeline out of hilton head to get kids to qualify for a Palmetto scholarship and walk on. Seems like a no brainer from the outside looking in. Those kids end up anywhere but Clemson and SC.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

I heard a revelatuon today. Robert Pietrucha was a last minute addition to Clemson in the mid 2000's. He was chosen over a Spaniard who was leaning toward coming to Clemson, encouraged by McCuen. Kriese decided that the team needed no more foreigners because he was tired of them. The Spaniard's name? Arnau Brugues

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Clemson plays at GT tomorrow at noon. Hopefully the weather will be good, otherwise the match will take all day because GT only has 3 indoor courts.

I expect a close one either way. Probably be 4-3. I really really hope we can pull it out.

I want to see how good King really is.

 

[PowerPlay]

Bummed I missed seeing you all play CofC here in Charleston...

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Clemson beat Ga Tech today 4-3! Finally we pull out a close on ethat matters. Got killed in doubles but showed great fight on courts 2-5. It was really cold and windy. Key to the match was at #1 Gerardo Meza came from 0-5 down in the 2nd set to beat 101 Spir 6-2 7-5.

scores

i have some videos and a full report later

 

[fridrix]

Clemson plays at GT tomorrow at noon. . . .

I want to see how good King really is.

Quite good? (1. #13 Kevin King (GT) def. Yannick Maden (CU) 6-1, 6-1.)

Congrats on team win; was it like a Sharapova--French Open situation where the ones with the biggest strokes couldn't adjust to the wind?

 

[Clemson_tennis]

No not really. That was not the case on any of the courts excpet court 1. King had bigger shots than Maden, Maden also played very poorly. He was bad in doubles as well, off day for him. I think Clemson handled the wind better but also the Clemson player had more weapons on court 5,4,3 and the players were even on 2.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Clemson 4, #68 Georgia Tech 3

This match was played outdoor at GT. Windy conditions and pretty chilly.

Doubles:
Clemson played terrible in doubles. Played it as if there was no wind and GT continously made the Tigers pay.

singles: (1 and 6 to GT, 2-5 to Clemson)

1: 13 Kevin King def 88 Yannick Maden 6-1 6-1
I have to give big props to Kevin King. He was a mediocre #3 player last year for Tech and is now a national top 15 player. He had too much power for Maden. Maden played poorly and was bothered by the wind and many of his deep looping shots were going long. King attacked the net and Maden was unable to come up with his usual passing shots.

2: Gerardo Meza def 101 Juan Spir 6-2 7-5
The critical moment in this dual match came here on court 2. Meza was down 0-5 in the 2nd set and roared back to take it from Spir. That changed the momentum because everyone thought it was headed to 3. Spir relaxed too much and started dumping volleys, Meza was able to control the whole match from the back of the court. Spir is not a great mover and Meza's flat shots from corner to corner were too much for Spir. The wind also blunted Spir's serve.

3: Ayrton Wibowo def Juan Melian 6-3 2-6 6-3
This was the 2nd to last match the finish. Wibowo and D.Maden both entered the 3rd set together. Wibowo made sure to not be denied in the 3rd. He played outstandign tennis, attacking the net on nearly every point. He was serve and volleying a lot and elian had no passing shots to answer. It was one way traffic that Melian only slightly was ablt to stop but in the end Wibowo would not be denied.

4. Dom Maden def Dusan Milijevic 6-4 2-6 6-2
Clincher. This match was entirely on Maden's racket throughout. He had the bigger shots. He missed too many in the 2nd set but got it back together in the 3rd. The key game was at 2-all in the 3rd. Several deuces and evabtually Maden gutted it out and them Milijevic stopped putting up resistance. Maden is sometimes overly aggressive but in the 3rd he played smart and chose the right moments to use his whip forehand.

5: Hunter Harrington def Eduardo Secura 7-6(3) 6-4
First dual match win for Harrington in his career. Tight match. Segura tried every gamesmanship trick in the book but Harrington did not crack under the pressure late in the sets. This is a big confidence boosting win for Harrington.

6:Sebastian Lopez def Cedric Willems 6-3 6-2
Willems allowed too much to bother him in this match.Lopez was not that good but Willems head was not entirely in the match. Had several disputes. I have a feeling this is the last time he sees the top 6 for a while.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

It's strange. I had picked positions 2-4 as our weak spots before the year. But they are actually becoming our strength. I have been very pleased with Meza's play recently. He has been hitting the ball very well and been strong mentally. Right now our weakness is 6. Willems,Rigsby and Moran all have tried their hand at it and none of them have thus far solved it. It will be big if Harrington can get fully healthy and be a rock at 5. He should be winning at 5. He just lacked some confidence early.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

videos

Dom Maden clinching the match

Wibowo knotting the score at 3-3

 

[Clemson_tennis]

another video from GT match

Harrington vs Segura

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Miami on Sunday. They are ranked 59, they are not very good and only ranked there because they beat New Mexico earlier in the season. This will be a home match and an absolute must win. I have not seen any of the current Miami guys play before, so I don't know much about them.

Not confirmed yet but there may be a live blog for this match, that will be run by... well guess who.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Clemson def Miami 6-1. Very strong performance. Dom Maden was the MVP, partnering with Wes Moran to win 8-2 in dubs and won 6-1 6-1 in #4 singles.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

doubles:

Miami is not a good doubles team. Their players are not groundstrokers

singlesMiami only won at #2)

1: 88 Yannick Maden def Gabriel Flores 6-1 6-3
Perfect matchup for Maden. Flores didn't do anything excpet groove his forehand. Maden controleld the rallies and could set them up perfectly. Maden was up 6-1 5-0 and then Flores sensing defeat starting to go for it more and found a backhand down the line. That got him 3 games, but Maden eventually finished it.

2: Omar Aly def Gerardo Meza 6-3 7-6(7)
Aly played very well. Kept Meza off balance and closed the net and the proper times. Good mover and athletic. Meza could not control the points.

3: Ayrton Wibowo def Wilfredo Gonzalez 6-2 4-6 (10-6)
Wibowo was in control most of the match but Gonzalez dug in and fought to get it to a supertiebreaker. Gonzalez had a goofy forehand it had like 3 hitches in it, not a fluid player. He was awkward around the court. But he fought, in thend Wibowo was too solid at net.

4: Dom Maden def Henrique Tsukamoto 6-1 6-1
Great match from Maden. Tsukamoto was actually a good ball striker who got low on the ball. However Maden was far too strong today.

5: Hunter Harrington def Diego Soto 6-3 6-4
Good solid match from Harrington. This was the clinching match.

6: Zac Rigsby def Victor Mauz 4-6 6-1 6-4
Mauz was a pusher through and through. Rigsby had 7 match points before finally converting.