Vanesa Suarez was ready for the moment.

Her opponent, Jade Groen, tossed up the ball to serve, and the Lady Vol faithfully looked on in silent anticipation. One more point, and the senior would reach seven and win the tiebreaker after she had tied up the final set 6-6.

Suarez returned the serve, and the volley began. A forehand. A backhand. Another backhand. As Suarez drew her opponent forward toward the net, the final backhand forced Groen to run back and desperately try to get the ball across. It looked like it would be short, but the crowd stayed silent as it hung in the air.

Then the ball hit the ground, and Suarez’s teammates rushed the court as the home crowd in the Goodfriend Tennis Center erupted in cheers.

The No. 16 Lady Vols defeated the Clemson Tigers 4-3 Saturday afternoon, winning three straight singles matches to clinch the comeback and advance to 2-0 to begin the season. The match was part of the ITA Kickoff Weekend, which is a qualifier for the ITA Indoor National Championships. Tennessee was one of 14 host schools for the event.

“The thing about Tennessee Lady Vols tennis is we’re going to fight for every point,” Tennessee head coach Alison Ojeda said. “We’re going to compete until the end, and that’s exactly what we did today.”

To begin doubles play, Saray Yli-Piipari and Maeve Thornton took down Talia Neilson-Gatenby and Artemis Aslanisvili 6-4 in a hard-fought matchup. The duo is now 2-0 on the season for the Lady Vols and is finding chemistry as a new doubles team this season.

“I love playing with Maeve,” Yli-Piipari said. “I think we both love doubles so much … so every point, whether we win or lose, we’re so hyped up.”

Cat Aulia and Leyla Britez Risso looked to give the Lady Vols the doubles point when they got off to a 2-0 start, but they would go on to lose four of the next five games, putting them behind at 3-5. A fired-up Aulia and Risso managed to bring it to 4-5 and looked to tie it up, but Clemson’s Groen and Rinon Okuwaki won the volley at 40-all to defeat Aulia and Britez Risso 6-4.

Tennessee’s Suarez and Francesca Mattioli had a similarly hot start, going up 2-0, but dropped the next four games and ultimately couldn’t mount a comeback against Romana Cisovska and Gaia Parravicini, losing 6-4. Clemson won the doubles point.

Singles play did not start off well for the Lady Vols. They lost the first set on five of the six courts. But they regained their composure and began to claw back in the following sets.

“I could feel that our team felt like we should have won the doubles point,” Ojeda said. “I told them, ‘two hours from now, if we keep that “should have” feeling, we’re going to be really upset at ourselves.’”

Aulia gave the Lady Vols their first point of the day, defeating Ria Bhakta 6-3, 6-3. She was the only Lady Vol to win her first set. The final game of the second set was a dogfight, but Aulia used a strong backhand to prevail over Bhakta. She improves her career singles record to 63-38.

Sophomore Elim Yan fell to Aslanisvili on court six. After dropping the first set 6-3, Yan fought hard to make it 5-5 in the second set but couldn’t finish it off as Aslanisvili won by two to win Clemson’s second point, 6-3, 7-5.

Mattioli lost to Okuwaki 4-6, 3-6, giving Clemson its third point of the day. The Lady Vols were on the ropes, needing the remaining three courts to turn in their favor.

Britez Risso won an emotion-filled match on court two. Losing the first set 3-6, she rallied back with plenty of energy and fist pumps to win the next two sets, both by a score of 6-2.

With that, it came down to Yli-Piipari, Suarez and the home crowd to try and complete the comeback. Yli-Piipari showed her resilience in a tough match against Neilson-Gatenby. After losing the first set 4-6, she came back to win the second set 6-4. The crucial final set went to 5-5, meaning Yli-Piipari would need to win by two to keep the Lady Vols alive. That she did, defeating Neilson-Gatenby 7-5 and tying the overall score at 3-3.

Suarez started singles play off hot for the Lady Vols, going up 40-love and clinching her first game as the home crowd cheered for the senior on court one. She ended up dropping the first set to Groen 6-4. She kept fighting and won a back-and-forth affair in the second set 7-5.

As Yli-Piipari finished up her match, everyone in the Goodfriend Tennis Center turned their attention to court one for Suarez and Groen’s final set.

In the third and final set, Suarez fell behind 3-5 but wouldn’t quit.

“I love fighting back,” Suarez said. “Even when I’m down, I think I love it more.”

She showed that love for the comeback as she won two straight games to make it 5-5. She lost the next game but tied it up at 6-6 with a fist pump and a big cheer from the crowd and her teammates. The match ended in a first-to-seven tiebreaker, which Suarez won, 7-4.

“I think Vanesa was able to take a little bit of experience from the last year and a half, and that’s what showed up today for our entire team,” Ojeda said.

The Lady Vols will go on to compete in the ITA Indoor Championships in two weeks, along with the other winners of the ITA Kickoff, who will all be reseeded and will compete on the campus.