Gamecock Travel to Volunteer Showdown
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina men’s tennis will close out its fall competitions at the Volunteer Showdown in Knoxville, Tenn., this weekend. The Gamecocks will join host Tennessee, Mississippi State and Middle Tennessee State for three days of round-robin competition in singles and doubles.
The Gamecocks will play in the afternoon session on Fri., Nov. 6, starting at 2 p.m. On Saturday and Sunday, South Carolina will start play in the morning session at 9 a.m.
“A major goal going into this weekend from a team component is handling the reality of the fatigue our guys and all the other teams are facing right now,” South Carolina head coach Josh Goffi said. “We’re doing a lot of ‘one foot in front of the other’ development, and there’s a natural fatigue that comes with that, more than being in competition with more travel every weekend because there’s not the excitement of getting up for competition every single weekend. But, that playing through that fatigue is no different than maybe how we’re going to feel at the end of the spring when it’s the biggest part of our season. So that’s one of our goals this weekend, to prove to ourselves that no matter how fatigued we are mentally or physically, we are absolutely ready to lay it on the line again and be the toughest team out there again.”
Gamecock Notables
• Through their first two tournament, the Gamecocks have put together a 14-6 doubles record. The team of Phillip Jordan and Raphael Lambling are undefeated this season at 5-0, including the title at the Gamecock Fall SEC Shootout two weeks ago.
• In singles play, Daniel Rodrigues has been on top of his game with a 4-1 record that includes winning the title at the season-opening Gamecock Fall SEC Scramble.
• Thomas Brown and Beau Pelletier finished last season as the No. 80 doubles team in the country, and have a 4-1 record so far this season.
Tournament Field Notables
• Tennessee finished last season ranked No. 12 in the nation, while the Gamecocks were No. 18 in the final poll. Mississippi State came in at No. 39, and Middle Tennessee State posted a No. 41 ranking in the shortened season.
• Tennessee senior Adam Walton (4-2) is back after a junior season that saw him ranked No. 31 in the country. He has a 4-2 record so far this season, including a loss to Gamecock Daniel Rodrigues in the first tournament of the season.
• Mississippi State had a pair of entries in the final singles rankings of 2019-20 with Giovanni Oradini coming in at No. 43 and Florian Broska at no. 89. Oradini has been solid so far this season at 4-2, while Broska is just 2-4 so far this fall. The Bulldogs also had a pair of doubles teams nationally ranked with Broska/Nicolas Ocana at No. 43 and Alberto Colas/Gregor Ramskogler at No. 75.
• Middle Tennessee State has played in three events already this fall with a combined 52-18 singles record and a 24-9 slate in doubles. Tom Moonen and Francisco Rocha leading the way with matching 8-1 singles records.
