Clemson Tiger tennis

[cali_tennis_machine]

This was too good not to share. From his ITA Hall of Fame acceptance speech:

Jay Berger:
"One of the funniest things {while I was at Clemson was when I played} in the US Open and made it to the Round of 16 and I played Yannick Noah. I lost in four sets on center court of the US Open and was interviewed by Brent Musburger, who was a very famous commentator at the time. I got home the next day and coach [Chuck Kriese] did make me play a challenge match to make the team. Two days later, in order to earn a warmup, I had to run the mile in 5:15."

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Clemson adds Alexandre Favrot to the 2016 recruiting class. He was as high as #54 in the ITF junior rankings. A lefty. He has a UTR of 14.08.

He should undoubtedly play at #1 next year

 

[ClarkC]

Clemson adds Alexandre Favrot to the 2016 recruiting class. He was as high as #54 in the ITF junior rankings. A lefty. He has a UTR of 14.08.

He should undoubtedly play at #1 next year

Do you mean 2015 recruiting class? Players who commit in 2015 and can start playing in the fall of 2015 are considered the 2015 class. I ask because it seems hard to believe that he is committing a year in advance, as he turned 20 in February. If he knows he wants to switch to the college route, I would think he knows right now.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Yes that's what I meant. I assume he will play in the fall of 2015.

Team looking a lot more lefty oriented now , with Favrot, Pinazo and Navas coming in.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Some personal news here.

I got a job in the athletic department at North Dakota State. So I'll be moving to Fargo in August. Now for college tennis this isn't the greatest move but I'll probably be able to catch a Golden Gopher match here and there during the spring.

 

[TopDawg]

Some personal news here.

I got a job in the athletic department at North Dakota State. So I'll be moving to Fargo in August. Now for college tennis this isn't the greatest move but I'll probably be able to catch a Golden Gopher match here and there during the spring.

Congrats on the job - going to be mighty cold during winter.

 

[ClarkC]

Some personal news here.

I got a job in the athletic department at North Dakota State. So I'll be moving to Fargo in August. Now for college tennis this isn't the greatest move but I'll probably be able to catch a Golden Gopher match here and there during the spring.

Now you need to be convincing them to add tennis teams. Knock off a bank and donate the cash.

 

[tennis_tater]

He must be the "big time international recruit" you were hearing about earlier.

What do you know about Pinazo?

What do you expect from Clemson in 2015/2016?

 

[Clemson_tennis]

He must be the "big time international recruit" you were hearing about earlier.

What do you know about Pinazo?

What do you expect from Clemson in 2015/2016?

Yes I had heard that it was a Frenchman as well. His recruitment has something to do with his gf coming to Clemson.

I talked to UIW's #1 player Leonard Ivic who I used to hit with on occasion and he told me that Pinazo(his former teammate at LCC) is very good and at his best, better than himself. Pines has been through some injury problems for the past 2 years though. I know he is a lefty. (as is Favrot). Pinazo should probably be 2 or 3 on the team this year

I expect pretty good improvement. Favrot should be a pretty strong #1 and should be around 20-40 in the singles rankings all year of not higher. Depth will not be an issue with Johnson,Sanon,Drake and Ansari returning. If Ansari can find some form he could be a good #5 or 6 player again. The area I expect the team to struggle is at positions 2 and 3. No way to tell with doubles right now. The team should be back to contending for the NCAA tournament again next year and a top 40 finish

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Hampton Drake transfers to Duke. This doesn't make any sense to me. I thought coaches could refuse players to transfer to schools within the same conference as should have been done here. It would be terrible of Drake turns into a solid player for Duke. He was probably going to play 3 or 4 this year for Clemson. The loss of him hurts the depth for sure. Hopefully there will be another addition to the team now that Drake is gone.

 

[andfor]

Hampton Drake transfers to Duke. This doesn't make any sense to me. I thought coaches could refuse players to transfer to schools within the same conference as should have been done here. It would be terrible of Drake turns into a solid player for Duke. He was probably going to play 3 or 4 this year for Clemson. The loss of him hurts the depth for sure. Hopefully there will be another addition to the team now that Drake is gone.

The only thing that would make sense is it may free up his scholarship to let him go, and coach has someone committed to come in January.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Southern Intercollegiate recap:

Luke Johnson
lost to Nathan Rakitt 6-4 6-2
lost to Eduardo Mena 7-5 7-5

Daffra Sanon
lost to Diego Nunez 6-3 6-2
lost to Ramon van Flymen 2-6 6-0 (10-6)

Arturo Pinazo
lost to Chris Patzanovsky 6-3 6-1
lost to David Herrerias 4-6 6-0 (10-8)

Brent Lett
lost to Alex Alvaro 6-1 1-6 6-3
lost to Casey Kay 6-1 6-3

Christian Harris
def Phillipe Courteau 6-4 6-3
def Andrei Andrukhou 6-1 6-4
def Juan Marino 6-3 6-3
def Alex Alvaro 6-4 7-5
def Jack Macfarlane 6-1 6-2
lost to Lachlan McPhee 3-6 6-4 7-6(4)


Not a very goof showing from the Tigers in Athens. Johnson and Sanon were a let down as was Pinzao. Pinazo was probably the biggest disappointment being in the D2 singles draw and going 0-2, especially since he is supposed to be an important slot filler this year. Robert Dudley certainly has fallen far, going from #6 his freshman year to playing and losing in D3 singles.

Only Christian Harris had a good week. He was a tiebreak away from taking the D2 title. Now I am not very sure what this means for him this season. Those are certainly better results than some of the other lower line-up contenders. Maybe Harris can sneak into the #6 spot this year.

 

[Tramlines]

Southern Intercollegiate recap:

Luke Johnson
lost to Nathan Rakitt 6-4 6-2
lost to Eduardo Mena 7-5 7-5

Daffra Sanon
lost to Diego Nunez 6-3 6-2
lost to Ramon van Flymen 2-6 6-0 (10-6)

Arturo Pinazo
lost to Chris Patzanovsky 6-3 6-1
lost to David Herrerias 4-6 6-0 (10-8)

Brent Lett
lost to Alex Alvaro 6-1 1-6 6-3
lost to Casey Kay 6-1 6-3

Christian Harris
def Phillipe Courteau 6-4 6-3
def Andrei Andrukhou 6-1 6-4
def Juan Marino 6-3 6-3
def Alex Alvaro 6-4 7-5
def Jack Macfarlane 6-1 6-2
lost to Lachlan McPhee 3-6 6-4 7-6(4)


Not a very goof showing from the Tigers in Athens. Johnson and Sanon were a let down as was Pinzao. Pinazo was probably the biggest disappointment being in the D2 singles draw and going 0-2, especially since he is supposed to be an important slot filler this year. Robert Dudley certainly has fallen far, going from #6 his freshman year to playing and losing in D3 singles.

Only Christian Harris had a good week. He was a tiebreak away from taking the D2 title. Now I am not very sure what this means for him this season. Those are certainly better results than some of the other lower line-up contenders. Maybe Harris can sneak into the #6 spot this year.

On a positive note though Johnson and Dudley had a good run in D1 dubs reaching the semi-finals .

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Just noticed the new roster is up on the website. Only 9 players deep and Ryan McMullen is not a serious player. Not D1 caliber and is on the team due to other reasons. Then there is Dudley,Lett and Harris... So it looks like Harris will for sure have to be #6.

Navas will be arriving in January I assume but he will be a backup more than likely. Hopefully there is another top 6 quality guy coming in in January.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

No longer see Alex Favrot's name in the qualifying for Tulsa. Disappointing. I was looking forward to seeing how he did

 

[TopDawg]

I see the schedule is out - they must be expecting a pretty rough year because there are doubleheaders scheduled with Mercer, Charleston, Wofford, & Winthrop plus they have USC Upstate, South Carolina State, Gardner-Webb, and Presbyterian on there too.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Man what a terrible schedule. 12 cupcake matches is way too many. Only 5 non-conference matches vs even/slightly better teams (Penn State, Texas Tech, Auburn, Dartmouth, South Carolina). No non conference matches vs big boys. So there is no Georgia on the schedule once again. This only gives the team 5 chances to get a nice ranking win before the start of conference play. That puts a ton of pressure on the matches in the ACC and will force the Tigers to really focus on NC State, VT, GT, FSU, ND, Louisville, Miami.

At least 5 of those cupcake matches should be replaced with other matches against teams like VCU, ETSU, South Alabama, North Florida etc. Now I am sure it's not that easy and tons of teams clamor to schedule those schools but still I feel like matches could be found. Like for instance it is a big strange to head all the way out to Lubbock for one match. While in Texas Clemson could grab a match vs Rice or SMU or even head over to the ABQ to face to Lobos.

The key is getting that ranking cushioned! This happens every year to some teams. They have close non-conference losses and their ranking remains lower all year putting a ton of pressure on them to win the next match and they never get that big ranking boosting win. The Tigers will need to take at least 3 of those 5 non-conference swing matches

 

[Nostradamus]

going to ITA all American in Tulsa ?? if so, can you make sure to tell them the Webcam better be working this year. Because last year, only parts of the court was working and those that was working was constantly freezing.........

 

[Clemson_tennis]

First positive result of the fall for Clemson so far with Sanon knocking off Kan of Wake in the Carolina regional. I feel like he has the potential to be better this year and step up. But he must be more consistent. Last year he had so many 6-1 0-6 6-2 type of scores.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Season gets underway Saturday.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Reading over the player get to know you interviews, the players seem to have high expectations for the team this season. On paper I don't see how they can be so optimistic. It's good that they are though since they are the ones playing but where are the points going to come from? The only way this team gets to the lofty goals that they are proposing is if Favrot is a dominate #1 like his pre-college resume would suggest he is capable of, if Sanon grows into his big potential, if Ansari gets back to his Freshman and Sophomore season form, if Johnson is a solid Senior leader, and if the bottom of the lineup is solid.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Here is a preview I wrote for a Clemson forum. So it's not written for big tennis fans so a few things will be obvious to you guys

Returning players:

Austin Ansari, Senior, Greensboro,NC
Robert Dudley, Junior, Dublin,Ireland
Christian Harris, Junior, Hilton Head,SC
Luke Johnson, Senior, Leeds,UK
Brent Lett, Junior, Elgin,SC
Daffra Sanon, Junior, Paris,France

New Players:

Rafa Navas Robles, Madrid,Spain
Alexandre Favrot, Lyon,France
Arturo Pinazo, Malaga,Spain (transfer from Laredo Community College_


Projected lineup:

1. Alexandre Favrot - should be the solid #1 all season.Was rated as the #9 newcomer in the country by the ITA. However he did not play at all in the fall so it is hard to tell just how good a #1 he will be this year.

2. Luke Johnson - It's hard to guess the rest of the positions on the team as nobody stands out from the pack. I am going to put Johnson at 2 because of his experience and his decent results in previous years in the ACC.

3. Daffra Sanon - Showed flashes of talent and ability last year. Had a decent win in the fall over Kan from Wake. Hopefully he has improved enough this year to be a decent #3 player

4. Austin Ansari - Had a very poor year last year. This year is his final year to make an impact for Clemson tennis. If he can get back to form he should be a decent #4 player.

5. Arturo Pinazo - Did not have good fall results but his past resume should be enough to get him a spot at #5 on this team

6. Christian Harris - Had the most complete results out of anyone on the team from the fall. He should solidify a spot #6. Nobody else on the team has shown enough recently to supplant Harris,

Lett and Dudley could slip into #6 from time to time. I have no idea how good Navas is but is not top 6 quality.


schedule:
Sat, Jan 16 Mercer Charlotte, N.C. (Charlotte Indoor Tennis Club) 1:00 p.m.
Sat, Jan 16 Mercer Charlotte, N.C. (Charlotte Indoor Tennis Club) 5:00 p.m.
Fri, Jan 22 Dartmouth at Hanover, N.H. 4:30 p.m.
Sat, Jan 23 Penn State Hanover, N.H. 2:30 p.m.
Fri, Jan 29 Texas Tech at Lubbock, Texas 3:00 p.m.
Sun, Jan 31 College of Charleston Clemson, S.C. 10:00 a.m.
Sun, Feb 07 Wofford Clemson, S.C. 10:00 a.m.
Sun, Feb 07 Wofford Clemson, S.C. 3:00 p.m.
Sun, Feb 14 Auburn Clemson, S.C. 11:00 a.m.
Sun, Feb 14 Gardner-Webb Clemson, S.C. 5:00 p.m.
Fri, Feb 19 Winthrop Clemson, S.C. 1:00 p.m.
Fri, Feb 19 Winthrop Clemson, S.C. 5:00 p.m.
Sat, Feb 27 South Carolina Clemson, S.C. 11:00 a.m.
Sat, Feb 27 South Carolina State Clemson, S.C. 5:00 p.m.
Fri, Mar 04 Florida State * Clemson, S.C. 11:00 a.m.
Fri, Mar 04 USC Upstate Clemson, S.C. 5:00 p.m.
Fri, Mar 11 Notre Dame * Clemson, S.C. 11:00 a.m.
Sun, Mar 13 Louisville * at Louisville, Ky. 1:00 p.m.
Fri, Mar 18 Georgia Tech * at Atlanta, Ga. 5:00 p.m.
Sun, Mar 20 Wake Forest * at Winston-Salem, N.C. 1:00 p.m.
Fri, Mar 25 North Carolina * at Chapel Hill, N.C. 2:00 p.m.
Sat, Mar 26 NC State * at Raleigh, N.C. 2:00 p.m.
Fri, Apr 01 Boston College * Clemson, S.C. 2:30 p.m.
Sun, Apr 03 Miami * Clemson, S.C. 11:00 a.m.
Fri, Apr 08 Virginia Tech * Clemson, S.C. 2:00 p.m.
Sun, Apr 10 Virginia * Clemson, S.C. 11:00 a.m.
Sun, Apr 10 Presbyterian College Clemson, S.C. 5:00 p.m.
Fri, Apr 15 Duke * at Durham, N.C. 3:00 p.m.
Wed, Apr 20 -
Sun, Apr 24 ACC Championships Cary, N.C. TBA
Fri, May 13 -
Sun, May 15 NCAA First & Second Rounds TBA TBA
Thu, May 19 -
Tue, May 24 NCAA Team Championships Tulsa, Okla. TBA
Wed, May 25 -
Mon, May 30 NCAA Individual Championships Tulsa, Okla. All Day


So many doubleheaders vs poor teams. This is an effort to pick up wins in order to get the record about 500 which is a requirement for NCAA tournament play. But that will mean nothing if the ranking is not in the top 40. I expect that to be very hard to do. The ACC is going to very tough once again and the non conference slate does not provide many opportunities for ranking boosting wins.

Favorite should be a pretty good #1 and could finish the year in the ITA top 50. However it is hard to see many positives outside of that. Johnson has been a solid player at 4-6 through the years but #2 is probably too high for him to make as much impact. But the team has no alternatives for #2. The Tigers will lose a lot of matches at #2 and #3 this year. The hope to win matches will be at #1, 5 and 6 and doubles.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Jess Jones appears on the roster our of nowhere. He could be a solid contributor lower in the lineup


Just won doubles vs Mercer.

Here is the singles lineup they just put out:

1. Johnson
2. Favrot
3. Sanon
4. Harris
5. Pinazo
6. Dudley

Johnson at 1 over Favrot? I find that interesting. I wonder is Favrot is not 100% still after an illness and injury plagued fall. Harris comes in at 4. Ansari not in the top 6 and he did play doubles, that does not say encouraging things about his singles form.

 

[andfor]

Jess Jones appears on the roster our of nowhere. He could be a solid contributor lower in the lineup.

Wow and mid-year transfer with a release. Very unusual. Must have had some dirt on someone at UT. HAHA

 

[MC86]

Taking a 4-3 loss to Mercer (even if was as the second part of a double-header) is going to have to provoke some soul searching in Clemson....

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Taking a 4-3 loss to Mercer (even if was as the second part of a double-header) is going to have to provoke some soul searching in Clemson....

Yes. I've known this is going to be a bad season for a while now. The fall results were pretty bad from all players and the lack of roster additions made it pretty evident. I tried to get myself excited about the season by stretching for positives the past week or so but this loss to Mercer just crushed that. It's worrying because it's not like this team is young and needs experience, only Favrot is a freshman and he's the one that won.

This reminds me of the Alvarez,Borachinskiy,Difazio days wheh we were barely slipping past William and Mary and Furman.

 

[chris-swede]

this season could be very very long

 

[Clemson_tennis]

oh my god. It's worse than I thought. Mercer was routed by Southern Illinois 6-1. The Salukis rolled through the singles matches.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Playing vs Dartmouth and Penn State this weekend. I know it's very early in the year. But I think the team must win at least one of these two matches. For confidence and for potential tournament positioning. 2 losses would be very bad

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Lost to Dartmouth 6-1. Only Sanon won at 3. The losses were all straight sets, although Favrot did have leads in both sets that he lost.

Penn State tomorrow. They are able the same level as Dartmouth. Will need to play much better if there is any shot to win. Penn State did lose to Penn last year, so an upset is possible if the Nittany Lions are off of their game in their first match of the season.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Lost 6-1 to Penn State. This is going to be one of those seasons where we celebrate individual wins rather than team wins. Kinda like Arizona does in the Pac 12. In fact that's exactly what Clemson is this year, Arizona.

 

[Court_Gamecocks]

What happened? McCuen has been head coach how many years now? I think this is year 8? How many good teams has he had? 2 out of 8? And I do not know how he even had those good teams. Clemson_tennis man surely you must be fed up.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

What happened? McCuen has been head coach how many years now? I think this is year 8? How many good teams has he had? 2 out of 8? And I do not know how he even had those good teams. Clemson_tennis man surely you must be fed up.

How did we have those 2 good seasons? Easy. I was the team manager.. Ha no I'm kidding. I was the manager for only 1 of the 2 good years. But the real answers is the Madens. In a sport that requires so few players 1 or 2 guys can change a lot. The Madens changed the culture to a winning one. As soon as Dom was gone, the team went south even though Harrington/Augusto and more were coming back for the next season.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Vs Texas Tech soon. Clemson did beat TT last year but of course that's wheh Johnson was playing #6 rather than #1.

I'm pulling for a respectable score and hopefully Favrot can get an upset ranking win

 

[Clemson_tennis]

In here with a bit of a chance actually. Tech running away with 2 and 5 but the other 4 courts are close. Dudley and Sanon are making a comeback and Favrot in a massive 1st set breaker with Soares.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Easily the best performance of the year so far in Lubbock.

Doubles was a mess and that needs to be fixed because the team cannot get rolled in doubles every match. It's bad for momentum and confidence and an awful way to start.

Johnson and Harris were taken to the woodshed. I think Harris should be removed from the lineup now. He had the best fall but he has not been competitive thus far in the dual season. Maybe move in Pinazo or Jones(why has't he played the last 3 matches).

Nice win for Dudley. He has been a decent #6 so far. No problems with his play today, steamrolling his opponent in sets 2 and 3.

Sanon and Ansari both lost in super-tiebreaks. Could have been a 4-3 loss only if they had pulled out their dead rubbers. Sanon won an epic 16-14 2nd set breaker to even send it to the buster.

Team had a chance at one point. I'm pretty sure Favrot served for the 1st set against #8 Soares at 5-4. If he closes that set out, things might have looked even closer going down the stretch.

6-1 loss in the end but this is far more encouraging that the matches vs Dartmouth or Penn State. Especially considering that Tech is a much better team than either of those two teams, even if Dojas was out today.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Edit: Clemson's web release says that Dudley actually played at 5 and lost 6-3 6-3 while Brent Lett played at 6 and won. Well same thing goes for Lett. He actually has been a decent #6 so far this year. Keep him in the lineup.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Ok so I guess I should comment on the Wofford doubleheader. (Do I have to?)

Didn't lose, which sadly was actually a legitimate possibility heading into Sunday. Not much can be taken from these two matches. Alex Favrot getting romped 6-2 6-3 by Haris Poric at #1 just after beating him 6-2 7-5 isn't good at all. Not sure what was going on there. I also don't know where Jess Jones has been. At this point though Ansari and Lett appear to be the best options at 5 and 6. Pinazo does not seem like an answer though, Jones or Dudley should fill in. Dudley, Ansari and Lett for 4-6 I suppose.

History was also made Sunday. First ever player birthday celebration (as far as I am aware) at the courts on a match-day. For Ryan McMullen. I'm glad he had a nice birthday and had it plastered all over Clemson tennis social media. Pretty nice gig for a player who lost 6-0 6-0 to a guy who went 2-8 at #6 for Lipscomb. I wonder what's the greater number: McMullen's age or the combined number of games he has won vs D1 opponents in his career?

 

[chris-swede]

both Madens were outstanding, but still crazy how bad this Team gets in just 2 or 3 seasons

 

[tennis_tater]

Clemson program has been average/mediocre for some time. Are there any talks of a potential coaching change?

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Clemson program has been average/mediocre for some time. Are there any talks of a potential coaching change?

This is now McCuen's 8th year as head coach. He has made the NCAA tournament twice. In 2013 and 2014, NCAA 2nd round. And that was 70% thanks to the Madens with help from others.

At the close of the glory years with Clement Reix, Jarmaine Jenkins and Ryan Young...
Kriese's last year in 2008 was probably the worst Clemson team of all time. There was some stuff going on with that, I'm not gonna pretend to know the exact details, as that was only when I was just getting into college tennis. I have heard rumors though that Kriese sabotaged the recruitment of Arnau Brugues (Ita #1 at Tulsa) and instead got the great Robert Pietrucha.

I still kinda cringe when I think about the teams in McCuen's first few years. That's when I first started to regularly attend the matches. Carlos Alvarez, Derek DiFazio, Gera Borachinskiy, Rok Bizjak, Kevin "Sanam Singh Slayer" Galloway. See when I think of these names I think of highly unentertaining styles of play, Alvarez could NOT flatten out a ball to save his life, Gera.. I don't even remember his game, Bizjak would slice 75% of his shots and Galloway didn't have the best looking strokes ever (although I will say Galloway had a great sophomore year, he was destroying people every match at one point)
DiFazio was the worst of them all though. The best match he ever played was a close 3 set loss to Guillermo Gomez of GT. Also took Shabaz to a set tiebreak once, but good gracious was his game just the worst to watch. Plus he rarely if ever won an ACC match. Was way too high in lineup.
I also associate these names with losses to William and Mary and being unable to make the tournament.

Yannick Maden, Dom Maden, Hunter Harrington, Gerardo Meza, Zac Rigsby. And I did not have an in-person connection with him but Alejandro Augusto as well. I am always going to think of those names in the same way I think of Reix,Jenkins and Young. Good memories.

Now this current crop. Unfortunately they seem to be the second coming of Alvarez,Difazio, Bizjak etc.
Sanon, Dudley, Lett, Johnson(he was a part of one good team so isn't 100% on this list) is the new generation of the bad memories. And the bad memories should have never come back, the program should have progressed from the point of the good memories players.

I didn't exactly answer your question with my ramblings there and I am not going to answer that directly on this forum. Too complicated for me personally to do so. But I laid out some facts and you can interpret what you want to from that.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

I don't why at all. But I have a feeling the team beats Auburn tomorrow.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Up 3-2. Good wins by Sanon and Favrot. Now need Ansari or Lett to get a win

 

[Clemson_tennis]

I was all set to quote my above post and congratulate myself and having the correct feeling that the team would win today. Then it happened. That's when the collapse came. Ansari goes from up 3-0 in the 3rd set to losing 6-3. Lett goes from up 3-1 in the 3rd set to losing 6-3. 6 and 5 game collapses. According to my source at the match Lett also had a match point at Deuce up 7-5 5-4.

Ansari lost the first set 6-1 and then wins 9 of 11 games to go up 1-6 6-2 3-0. Then lost 6 in a row. I mean what... I don't know. I have stopped trying to understand Ansari and his game.

Sanon and Favrot had good wins. Both over players who have been ranked before (Krickovic is currently #84). Johnson also with the win.

Pinazo probably should be removed from the lineup. He got crushed and so far has shown no signs of being a top 6 player. Dudley has played decent thus far, not sure why he has not been given another shot. No idea what's happened to Jess Jones either.

Auburn is not that good and is ranked #56. One of the worst SEC teams this year if not THE worst. Actually I don't think anyone is worse in the SEC, They are the worst. So this is another bad loss. The win might not even have meant that much though because Auburn will likely finish outside the top 75.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Today was painful but today was progress. We are improving with each day, doubles looked better, and our top three were dominant again,” said Assistant Coach John Boetsch. “Brent Lett showed a lot of heart out there today as well. Strength coach Chandler Geller has done a great job with the guy’s fitness and they are excited about finishing this non-conference schedule strong.”


Is that why Lett lost his last 5 games and Ansari his last 6 in a 3rd set?

 

[Clemson_tennis]

In light of the Virginia ACC win streak ending today do you guys remember the closest it really came to ending? In Clemson in 2014. If Harrington has successfully served out his match vs Domijan, the streak would have ended right there. Clemson took doubles, Dom Maden beat Ryan Shane and Johnson took out Daigle. And Harrington was oh so close to beating Domijan.

 

[Tramlines]

Remember it well. Was there watching . Just goes to show how quickly things can change in a couple of years.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Throwback Thursday:

March 7, 2009
To the best shot I have ever seen (to this day) on a college tennis court in person. It was an abnormally warm day in March and Clemson was facing Florida State. This was not a very good Clemson team and they were playing the #15 Seminoles.

Court 1. #28 Jean-Yves Aubone vs Carlos Alvarez. Clemson is getting whacked on all courts except 6. Alvarez was the ultimate grinder he never ever went for many winners, hit with tons of topspin and never moved forward. (He was like 5'6). At some point in the 2nd set he decided to flatten out a forehand and crack it. Best forehand I ever saw him hit, it was hard and well angled obviously about to throw Aubone completely off right? Wrong. Aubone would respond with the best college tennis shot I have ever seen. He stepped into the hard forehand from Alvarez and threw his racquet at the ball. What came off his racquet from the forehand side was an absolute laser down the line that skidded off the right sideline deep in the court. It had to have been close to 110 mph, rivaling the very best shots on the ATP even(and I have been to ATP events and this shot still stands out in my mind). Alvarez didn't have the gall to call it out as he was as stunned as everyone. A fairly nice size crowd was on hand due to the weather and everyone let out an "oooh" after that shot regardless of it being an FSU player who hit it. No shot on a college court has since topped it from what I have seen in person.

 

[Clemson_tennis]

Clemson did not make their usual trip to the Blue/Grey tournament this year. Instead they will face the South Carolina Gamecocks tomorrow.

Despite the rankings SC is a better team than Auburn so Clemson will need to have a better performance against Sc than they did vs Auburn if they want to win.

Doubles: I see South Carolina taking the doubles point

Singles:
1. Favrot def Fennell in 2
2. O'Keefe def Sanon in 3
3. Johnson def Friedrich in 3
4. Schafer def Pinazo in 2
5. Mayronne def Ansari in 3
6. Swank/Benton or Denis def Lett in 2

Looks like a 5-2 Gamecock win to me. I hope that Clemson does not play Pinazo at 4 again. 4-6 are probably easy win for SC. Clemson will need to sweep all other spots to get the win. I think favorite should beat Fennell and Johnson has a shot vs Friedrich. Doubles is a possibility and maybe Sanon can steal one at 2.

A win here would feel so good. It would be sweet to see the Gamecocks lose to the worst Clemson team since 2008. Unfortunately I don't see it getting done.

 

[Court_Gamecocks]

Ready for a bad kicking???