Men's Tennis Closes Regular Season with a Win
COLUMBIA, S.C. – With a reshuffled lineup, No. 13 South Carolina men’s tennis posted a 4-3 win over South Carolina State Thursday afternoon at Carolina Tennis Center to officially close out its regular season. The Gamecocks dominated in doubles and won the first three singles matches before the Bulldogs closed the gap with a trio of third-set super-tiebreak victories.
At the top of the doubles lineup, newly minted top-20 tandem Daniel Rodrigues and Connor Thomson turned a 3-0 lead into a quick 6-1 victory over Marcelo Rodriguez Mojica and Elyes Marouani. Jake Beasley and Toby Samuel delivered the point for the Gamecocks with a 6-3 decision in the No. 3 spot.
Three of the Gamecocks’ four ranked singles players sat out the match, but that did not stop the success at the top of the lineup as the Nos. 1 and 2 matched sealed the team victory.
Beau Pelletier got singles off to a quick start from Court 6 with an early 3-0 lead over Luka Stefanovic. The sophomore kept his foot on the gas and yielded just two games in his straight-set victory (6-0, 6-2).
Playing in the No. 2 spot, Thomas Brown went down a break early, trailing Rodriguez Mojica 0-3, but the senior did not lose another game in the 6-3, 6-0 victory – his 10th win in 15 matches this season.
No. 59 Lambling was the lone ranked Gamecock to take the court, playing Aleksa Daskaovic at the top of the lineup. A break and hold set up a 4-1 lead in the first set, which he won 6-2. Lambling needed a few more games to edge ahead of Daskaovic in the second set but settled the match by the same 6-2 score as the first to deliver the Gamecock victory.
South Carolina will head to Fayetteville, Ark., to play in the SEC Championships, which begin on Mon., April 19. With a pair of make-up matches scheduled for this week, the final SEC standings and tournament seeding will be announced at the end of this weekend.
For all the latest South Carolina men’s tennis information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).
(13) South Carolina def. SC State 4-3
Doubles (Order of Finish: 1, 3*, 2)
1. (20) Daniel Rodrigues / Connor Thomson (SC) def. Marcelo Rodriguez Mojica/Elyes Marouani (SCSU) 6-1
2. Bruno Oliveira / Raphael Lambling (SC) def. Aleksa Daskaovic/Erwan Momo (SCSU) 6-3
3. Jake Beasley / Toby Samuel (SC) def. Diego Arzaluz/Salim Ben Ali (SCSU) 6-3
Singles (Order of Finish: 6, 2, 1*, 4, 3, 5)
1. (59) Raphael Lambling (SC) def. Aleksa Daskaovic (SCSU) 6-2, 6-2
2. Thomas Brown (SC) def. Marcelo Rodriguez Mojica (SCSU) 6-3, 6-0
3. Elyes Marouani (SCSU) def. Phillip Jordan (SC) 7-6, 3-6, 1-0 (7)
4. Omer Berk Gorgun (SCSU) def. Bruno Oliveira (SC) 4-6, 6-4, 1-0 (3)
5. Diego Arzulaz (SCSU) def. Carter Morgan (SC) 6-3, 6-7 (3), 1-0 (10)
6. Beau Pelletier (SC) def. Luka Stefanovic (SCSU) 6-0, 6-2
