The Clippers opened their South Carolina trip on Thursday as they faced #11 Lander University.
Andrey Boldarev and Daniele Piludu, #6 in the country in doubles, went back and forth with their opponents. As one team held serve the other matched it keeping the match tied through 7-7. Boldarev and Piludu unfortunately let their next game slip past them and they fell 7-9 in the first doubles flight.
Geza Bazula and Tamas Dobrotka, #32 in the country in doubles, were matched up evenly through 6-6. The Clipper pair fell in the next game and fell 6-8 in the match.
Lindell and Tisserand, at the number three doubles flight, struggled through their doubles match as they were only able to get two games. The pair fell 2-8.
With the Clippers down 0-3, the singles matches would have to step up and hold Lander off before they got to five.
Andrey Boldarev, the #10 singles player in the country, faced off against the #5 player in the country. Boldarev turned to dominate ways on court and only let two games slip past in the first set for the 6-2 win. Set two was more evened up as Boldarev's opponent pushed the set to 4-4. Boldarev then took the next game and then then set for the Clippers first point of the match with a 6-4 set win over the #5 player in the country.
Daniele Piludu, the #28 player in the country, stepped into the number two singles flight. With two games gone to his opponent, Piludu took the first set 6-2. Piludu continued his game play in the second set. With the set at 3-3, Piludu took the next three games to complete the set with a 6-3 win.
Geza Bazula, hitting at the number three singles flight, went back and forth holding serve in the first set until the ninth game of the set. Bazula was successful in taking the ninth game and then finished the set with a 6-4 win. The second set went a little further than the first as the set was tied at 5-5 and looking like it was going to go to a tie breaker. Bazula was able to take the next game and then the following one to avoid a tie breaker. Bazula took the match with a 7-5 second set win tieing the team match up at 3-3.
David Tisserand was pushed to three sets at the number four singles position. Tisserand's first set was close to a tie breaker but Tisserand was able to grab the last two games for him self and take the set 6-4. Tisserand then struggled in the second set getting broken twice to fall 2-6 and a third set was required. Tisserand held court in the third set as he dominated with a 6-0 third set win for the Clippers to take the 4-3 lead in the team score.
Tamas Dobrotka's match was also pushed to three sets. Dobrotka was broken near the end of the first set and fell 4-6. Dobrotka then turned the momentum to his side of the court as he broke his opponents serve in the second set to force a third set with a 6-3 second set win. Dobrotka continued to push in the third set and was able to break serve once more to take the match with a third set score of 6-3.
Andreas Lindell, at the number six singles, stepped up for the Clippers as he played tough on court. Lindell took the first set 6-2 and quickly moved on to set two. With one game early going to his opponent, Lindell finished the match on his terms and won 6-1 in the second set.
With all six singles going the way of the Clippers, they took the match 6-3 over #11 Lander University.
The Clippers will face off against host school #14 Francis Marion on Friday at 2:00pm.