March 25, 2009
COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 16 South Carolina posted a 6-1 win over Clemson in the 100th meeting of the two men’s tennis programs, lifting the Gamecocks’ record over their archrival to 59-39-2. The Gamecocks claimed the doubles point for the 14th time in 17 matches, and remained a perfect 14-0 when taking the early lead. Reigning SEC Freshman of the Week Ivan Machado rallied back for a three-set win over Clemson’s Kevin Galloway in the No. 4 singles match to score the decisive fourth point for the Gamecocks.
The Gamecocks won the doubles point with wins at Nos. 1 and 3. Carolina’s No. 3 tandem of Jaime Cuellar and Johannes Pulsfort extended their winning streak to four with the 8-4 win over Clemson’s Wesley Moran and Taylor Cohen.
The Tigers leveled the match briefly with a Roz Bizjak 6-2, 6-3 win over Pedro Campos at No. 2 singles, but South Carolina junior Diego Cubas turned in an efficient 6-2, 6-3 win over Carlos Alvarez at the No. 1 position seconds later to put the Gamecocks back on top. The No. 50 player in the country got an early break in each set and was in danger just once in the second set when Alvarez closed to 3-4 with a break of serve.
After a solid doubles outing, Cuellar snapped a four-match singles skid with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Kevin Fleck in the No. 3 spot. The Gamecock senior broke Fleck to go up 3-2 and made the single break hold up to win the first set. The break game two games later in the second set as Cuellar broke to go up 4-3, and he sealed the win in Fleck’s final service game as well.
With three points in hand, all eyes turned to the No. 4 match where Machado had split the first two sets with Galloway. After falling behind 1-4 early, Machado battled back to level the first set at 4-4 with a break of serve. Each player held serve in the next games, but Galloway came up with the decisive break in Machado’s next service game of the set for a 7-5 win. Momentum changed in the second set with Machado jumping out to a quick 5-1 lead, and he sent the match into a third set with a 6-3 win. The Carolina freshman continued to roll with a break in the first game of the third set. He added another break to go up 5-2 and finished off the match for himself and the Gamecocks in the next game.
The Nos. 5 and 6 matches were on court by the time Machado clinched the match for the Gamecocks. Pulsfort and Ike Belk split the first two sets in the No. 5 spot, and Pulsfort went on to win the match with a hard-fought 11-9 win in the tiebreaker. In the No. 6 match, Ivan Cressoni rolled in the first set 6-2 but faced a challenge from Moran in the second set, which the Tigers’ freshman won in a tiebreaker. Cressoni was in control of the deciding tiebreaker, but Moran rallied from 3-9 down before falling 9-11.
South Carolina returns to SEC action on Fri., March 27, with a 2 p.m. match against No. 55 Mississippi State at Sam Daniel Tennis Center.
No. 16 South Carolina 6, Clemson 1
Doubles: (Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2)
1. (29) Diego Cubas/Ivan Machado (SC) def. Carlos Alvarez/Rok Bizjak (CU) 8-5
2. Kevin Fleck/Ike Belk (CU) def. Pedro Campos/Ivan Cressoni (SC) 8-5
3. Jaime Cuellar/Johannes Pulsfort (SC) def. Wesley Moran/Taylor Cohen (CU) 8-4
Singles: (Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6)
1. (50) Diego Cubas (SC) def. Carlos Alvarez (CU) 6-2, 6-3
2. Rok Bizjak (CU) def. (115) Pedro Campos (SC) 6-2, 6-3
3. Jaime Cuellar (SC) def. Kevin Fleck 6-4, 6-3
4. Ivan Machado (SC) def. Kevin Galloway 5-7, 6-3, 6-2
5. Johannes Pulsfort (SC) def. Ike Belk 6-2, 2-6, 1-0 (9)
6. Ivan Cressoni (SC) def. Wesley Moran 6-2, 6- (1), 1-0 (9)
