CLEMSON — When the Clemson women’s tennis team started the spring season, they started it with high hopes.

The Tigers entered the season with three players ranked in the preseason singles poll and the nation’s No. 2 doubles team. In all, Clemson returned seven lettermen and ranked No. 9 overall in the preseason Top 25.

With so many bright young stars back from last season’s 22-5 team that finished 11th overall, head coach Nancy Harris decided it was best to prepare this year’s team with a schedule that was worthy of a top-10 squad. So Harris scheduled matches against non-conference foes such as Furman, who will join Clemson in Friday’s NCAA Regional at the Hoke Sloan Tennis Center in Clemson, Purdue, Kentucky, South Florida, plus tournament play in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Championships.

“We had a top-5 schedule,” Harris said following Wednesday’s practice. “We felt we had a top-10 team so we wanted to have a schedule that would prepare them for the nationals, but what we did not foresee was two surgeries, two knee injuries and an Achilles.”

What Harris did not foresee was a team that was beat up before the season even started.

Harris’ top singles player, Ani Mijacika, was already hobbled after having a cyst removed from her leg before Christmas. If that wasn’t bad enough, freshman Laurianne Henry of Anderson first hurt her shoulder and then injured her Achilles heel while running. Ina Hadziselimovic injured her knee in a weight room exercise, while a couple of other players also sustained injuries.

“Sometimes when everything happens at the same time, you just punt,” Harris said jokingly. “A lot of strange things have happened for whatever the reason, but they have made us stronger.

“That’s how you define a champion. You throw out all the adversity and a champion picks it up and runs with it.”

The Tigers (15-9) picked it up and used it to bring home an ACC Championship on April 20. Clemson first beat top-seeded Georgia Tech – No. 2 nationally at the time – in the semifinals and then rallied to knock off second-seeded Duke in the championship match.

“It has been pretty amazing,” Mijacika said. “It has been one of the best moments I have had here. When we started the year, a lot of players were injured and our flights were mixed up, but now we are playing really well.”

Clemson enters Friday’s regionals, which will begin with Furman playing Michigan at 11 a.m., followed by Clemson and Winthrop at 2 p.m., with a 10-match winning streak, which includes three wins over top-15 teams.

“They are all champions and they have responded to the adversity as champions do,” Harris said. “They get back up and they take one more step. They look through all the obstacles to try and find their way.

“It has been fun to watch them do that. It’s been fun to help them do that.”

Now the Tigers hope to take that next step and hopefully bring home a national championship to Clemson.

“We are definitely going for that,” Mijacika said. “We will take it match by match, but our goal is take it all the way to the finals. We proved in the ACC we are capable of doing it.

“We are pretty confident. We started the season pretty slow, but we are confident now that we are one of the best teams.”

Harris feels good about her team’s chances this weekend and beyond, but she feels even better knowing that no matter what happens, her girls will give it everything they have and will do it with the right attitude.

“This is what you play for,” the Clemson coach said. “But let it be fun and enjoy the good times. That’s thing I like about this team. They kind of take things in stride and laugh at their errors, their injuries and their mistakes. That’s why I have enjoyed coaching them all year.

“The girls’ attitude and how they deal with adversity has truly been wonderful… I still believe we are going to do some negotiating. We are still going to have some players in and out in the tournament. Yes, we are playing our best tennis right now, like most teams are. The key is, we are the healthiest we’ve been, though still not 100 percent, we are posturing ourselves better then we have been able to.”