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Tallahassee, FL – The Seminole men’s tennis team opened ACC play on a frigid Friday night in Tallahassee. After dropping the doubles point and then falling behind 3-0, FSU fought back to tie the match at 3-3 before finally falling in the third set of the final match of the night. The loss dropped Florida State to 3-4 on the season.
“That was a tough loss,” said FSU Head Coach Dwayne Hultquist. “Clemson played inspired tennis. I thought they played really well.”
After a nearly three-hour battle, it was the opening 45 minutes that played heavily in the outcome. Chase Wood and Bryn Nahrung got FSU off to a 1-0 lead in doubles, which Clemson was able to even up. The Seminoles were unable to lock up the point though after falling 7-5 on court two.
“The doubles was pretty key,” said Hultquist. “We were right there to get the doubles point. We won on three and lost on a deuce point that would have made it five all on one and then on two we were 5-5 and up 40-15 and ended up dropping the serve. I think that was the key to the match.”
Loris Pourroy and Marcus Walters both continued their excellent starts to the season in singles as each improved to 5-2 with straight set wins. Richard Thongoana secured a point for FSU as well with his third win of the season, also in straight sets. Like doubles, the outcome came down to a winner-take-all in the final match of the night on court six. With the match even at 3-3, Andreja Petrovic fought back from a 3-6 loss in the first set by winning the second set 6-1. The sophomore couldn’t come all the way back though falling 3-6 in the final set.
“We won three matches pretty comfortably in singles,” said Hultquist. “Loris was excellent. After a slow start, he was dominant. Rich closed out in straight sets as did Marcus. It came down to Andy. I thought he competed well and fought back hard. The key point in the match was the deuce point that he lost at 2-3. He did a great job coming back after the first set and handled himself well but Clemson did a good job of finishing it off.”
The Seminoles will continue ACC play Saturday at 1:00 versus Georgia Tech. The match is scheduled for the Scott Speicher Memorial Tennis Center where 116 fans can be accommodated and masks are required.
For more information on the 2021 Seminole Men’s Tennis program, please follow us on social at FSUMTennis (IG) and @FSU_MTennis (TW) and log on to Seminoles.com.
