No. 12 women's tennis falls to No. 17 Virginia 4-3 in key ACC match

By the margin of a doubles sweep and a third-set tiebreaker victory by Hana Tomljanovic over Tiger freshman Klara Vyskocilova at the No. 3 singles spot, 17th-ranked edged 12th-ranked Clemson 4-3 on Saturday and took a huge step toward wrapping up a top-four seeding and a first-round bye in the upcoming ACC women’s tennis tournament.

After the Cavaliers swept the doubles, including a come-from-behind 8-6 win by No. 54 Lindsey Hardenbergh and Erin Vierra over Clemson’s No. 3 (and formerly top-ranked) team of Josipa Bek and Keri Wong, the Tigers turned the momentum by winning the first set in singles at each of the top five positions.

Virginia’s Maria Fuccillo won a first-set tiebreaker and went on to defeat Laurianne Henry 7-6, 6-0 to give the Cavaliers a 2-0 lead, but the Tigers scrapped back and got wins from Wong at No. 2 singles and Carolina Magnusson at No. 5.

The match turned sharply in Virginia’s favor when 42nd-ranked Hadenbergh battled back from a 1-6 first-set loss and claimed back-to-back sets over ninth-ranked Bek, 7-5, and 6-3.

Tomljanovic then clinched with her comeback win over Vyskocilova at No. 4, 2-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7-2).

Nellie Ciolkowski picked up Clemson’s final point when she won a second-set tiebreaker at No. 3 and defeated Vierra in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6.

The Tigers, now 17-9 overall and 5-5 in the ACC, will conclude its regular season on Sunday at noon against Virginia Tech. Henry, Clemson’s lone senior, will be honored prior to the match.

The Cavaliers, 17-6 and 6-4, will play at No. 13 Georgia Tech on Sunday.

Rowers Fall To No. 3 Southern Cal: The 13th-ranked Clemson rowing team dropped three competitive races against No. 3 Southern California Friday night at Charlottesville, VA – races moved from Saturday to avoid bad weather.

After the weather cleared on Saturday, the Tigers won one of three races against No. 18 Texas.

Clemson will conclude competition on Sunday against UCLA.

Friday’s races were held despite choppy water and 15-25 mph wind gusts at Lake Monticello.

Clemson’s best results of the first two days came from its First Varsity 4 crew, which pushed the Trojans throughout the race and led with 200 meters to go, before being edged out at a late Southern Cal surge.

"I was really impressed with the fight in our Varsity 4 today," said Clemson coach Robbie Tenenbaum. "USC appeared to have the race under control, but our coxswain, Jenna Zylstra, noticed that USC appeared be vulnerable, and let her crew know that the race was still up for grabs.

“We used a lot of energy pulling ahead of the Trojans, but just did not have enough left to hang on at the end. It was a gutsy performance by our four.”

The Tigers’ Varsity Four crew came back on Saturday and defeated Texas by a 7:59.6 to 8:03.1 margin.

The Tigers dropped First and Second Varsity 8 races to both Southern Cal and Texas.

Tenebaum was again impressed by his crew’s performance against the Trojans.

"Our 1st Varsity 8 raced one of the best Varsity 8's in the country today, and we gave them a great race," Tenenbaum said. “We get better by racing the best, and today I feel like we raced one of the fastest Varsity 8's in the country. Our team lost some races today, but we know we can race in challenging conditions with one of the best programs in the country.”

Sunday’s competition against UCLA will be Clemson’s final races before the Tigers play host to the ACC championship regatta next weekend.