CARY, N.C. – The Clemson men’s tennis team finished day one at the ITA Regionals in Cary, N.C. Jorge Plans Gonzalez, Maxwell Smith, Spencer Whitaker, Ethan Silva and Ryuhei Azuma all claimed first round victories while Plans Gonzalez and Azuma will continue their success in the main draw tomorrow afternoon with two singles wins.
“Overall, it was a pretty good day for us,” said Head Coach Robbie Weiss. “Ryuhei played beautifully in his morning match and played the last two sets of his 2nd round match very well. Coke fought back from a set down in his morning match and played well to beat his opponent from North Carolina. Coke cruised in his afternoon match. Spencer and Max both got beat by better players on this day in their 2nd round matches.”
“Trey, Ethan and Matt had some ups and downs today but had some positives to take away with on the day. Ryuhei and Coke have tough 3rd round matches tomorrow vs NC State opponents while Matt will compete in the consolation. Excited to see how the boys respond tomorrow in singles before heading into the first few rounds of doubles.”
Plans Gonzalez got the Tigers off to a great start, winning a tight match against North Carolina’s Christopher Li in three sets (4-6, 6-2, 6-2) before Smith defeated Robby Krick from College of Charleston in quick sets, 6-2, 6-1. Just shortly after Whitaker earned a 7-5 win in the first set before winning the second in 6-3 fashion against South Carolina State’s Luka Stefanovic.
Freshman Silva grinded out a three set victory over Bruno Serra of UNC Asheville (5-7, 7-6, 6-4) before Ryuhei Azuma made quick work of Charlotte’s Coy Simon (6-3, 6-2).
Stinchcomb battled on his court and dropped his match and was unable to win in the back draw. M. Pitts dropped his first match of the day to Coastal Carolina’s Maj Tomac 4-6, 4-6, but came out on top in his second match, defeating Ian Rasheed from Wofford 3-6, 6-1, 10-8 to propel him into the consolation round tomorrow.
Whitaker, Silva and Smith all dropped their afternoon matches, but Plans Gonzalez and Azuma came up victorious in the second round of play with wins over Brann Reid (6-3, 6-4) and Elijah Poritzky (3-6, 6-3, 6-4), respectively.
The Tigers return to the court tomorrow afternoon in Cary for day two of ITA Regionals and will begin doubles play.
For further information check out the ITA Tournament Page.
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