April 16, 2010

COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 45 South Carolina men’s tennis wraps up its regular-season schedule at No. 6 Florida on Sat., April 17, at 1 p.m. at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex. The Gamecocks (9-11, 1-9 SEC) will take a pair of nationally-ranked singles players and a nationally-ranked doubles team to Gainesville for the season finale.

South Carolina has a pair of nationally-ranked seniors at the top of its singles lineup, including Pedro Campos who jumped into the No. 31 slot this week after rattling off four straight wins over ranked opponents, including a pair of top-30 foes. This season, Campos is 7-0 against ranked opponents, highlighted by a 3-0 mark against top-50 players. Diego Cubas is ranked 67th in the nation in singles this week, while he and Campos moved up to No. 29 in the doubles rankings. The duo has won six of its last eight matches to boast an 8-4 record, including a 6-2 mark against top-75 opponents.

With a 16-3 overall record and an 8-1 mark in league play, Florida dropped its first match in two months last Friday in a 4-3 loss to Tennessee. The Gators’ singles lineup is solid top to bottom, as only one position has more than four losses in the team’s 19 dual matches this season. Junior Alexandre Lacroix leads the way with a 30-7 overall record that has him ranked No. 4 in the nation. Joey Burkhardt plays the No. 2 spot for Florida with a 12-9 slate to rank No. 96 in the country. Lacroix and senior Antoine Benneteau combine for the No. 11 doubles team in the nation behind a 27-5 overall record, including a 15-4 mark in dual matches. The Gators also have the No. 49 doubles tandem in the country in Burkhardt and Sekou Bangoura. The team is 13-9 this season with a 10-8 record in dual matches.

Florida is 22-4 all-time against South Carolina and has never lost to the Gamecocks in Gainesville. South Carolina’s last win in the series was a 4-3 decision on March 11 in Columbia.