Following this win, the 11th-seeded Tar Heels (15-10) moved on to the quarterfinals set for Friday, where they will face off against the third-seeded Notre Dame at 12:30 p.m. in Cary. This victory also ended Clemson’s impressive nine-match winning streak, leaving them at 16-12.
Carolina previously defeated Clemson twice this season, having beaten them, 4-1, on March 20 in Chapel Hill.
The Tar Heels notched their fourth victory in the last five matches as they strive for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Up Next
UNC will take on third-seeded Notre Dame, ranked 24th, in the quarterfinal round on Friday, with the match commencing at 12:30 p.m.
Match Summary — Doubles
• Ian Mayew and Logan Zapp marked the first doubles victory of the day, breaking midway to defeat Yannic Nittmann and Matisse Farzam, 6-4, on court three.
• The remaining two doubles matches were decided by tiebreakers.
• Clemson’s Henrik Bladelius and Marko Mesarovic secured a win over Ratiu and Chris Xu, finishing 7-6 (2) on court two.
• On court one, #34 Roan Jones and Anthony Wright established leads of 3-0 and 6-2 against #22 Noa Vukadin and Viktor Markov, ultimately winning 7-6 (4) to secure the doubles point.
Match Summary — Singles
• Clemson claimed the first set in four out of six singles matches, with Constantinos Djakouris (court five) and Mayew (court three) managing to win the opening sets for Carolina.
• Ranked 39th, Markov from Clemson defeated Xu with a score of 7-5, 6-2 on court one, tying the overall match at 1-1.
• Mayew secured a break to lead 3-2 in the first set before winning it 7-5, and then took the second set to win against Farzam, 7-5, 6-3 on court three.
• The match evened at 2-all when Vukadin beat Jones, 6-4, 6-4 on court two.
• The Tigers surged ahead at 3-2 when Noah Lopez Cherubino defeated Kase Schinnerer on court six, 6-3, 7-6 (2).
• Djakouris tied the match at 3-3 with his 6-4, 6-3 win on court five against Mesarovic, marking his sixth straight singles victory.
• The decisive match occurred on court four, where Ratiu overcame Bladelius in a thrilling three-set contest. After losing the first set in a tiebreaker and winning the second 6-4, Ratiu grasped a 5-3 lead in the final set, holding serve to secure the victory, 6-3.
Quotable
“First of all, congratulations to Clemson. They’ve been on a nine-match winning streak coming in here, beating Stanford and Cal at home. We knew it would be a great match. I’m proud of our guys. It was a great match. I’m just really proud of the whole team. Everybody’s fighting and working and trying and grinding, and it’s turning out on our side at the most important time of the year.” — Head coach Sam Paul
