Gamecocks Close Home Schedule Against Seventh-Ranked Texas A&M and No. 32 LSU

COLUMBIA, S.C.— The 18^th-ranked South Carolina men’s tennis (13-5, 3-4 SEC) team will look to solidify its spot in the top-25 this weekend as it hosts seventh-ranked Texas A&M (16-3, 6-0 SEC) on Friday at 4 p.m. ET, followed by a Sunday match against No. 32 LSU (14-5, 2-4 SEC) beginning at 1 p.m. ET.  Carolina will close out its 2019 home schedule this weekend at the Carolina Tennis Center where they are 11-1 this season after another 2-0 home weekend last week.
 
South Carolina is 29-3 over the past three seasons at home and has won 16 of its last 17 matches in Columbia.  The Gamecocks currently sit in a six-way tie for fourth-place in the conference standings with five matches remaining.
 
The Gamecocks’ No. 1 singles player, fifth-ranked Paul Jubb, owns the highest career win percentage in all dual-matches (.837), SEC matches (.813) and matches against ranked opponents (.625).  The junior from Hull, England put up another 2-0 weekend in his two singles matches last weekend, defeating No. 36 Ryo Matsumura of Kentucky and No. 89 Cameron Klinger of Vanderbilt.
 
Carolina will honor its lone senior, Yancy Dennis, with pre-match Senior Day festivities scheduled before Sunday’s match against LSU.  Both matches are free and open to the public with free parking available to fans in attendance.  Match times for all home matches are subject to change.
 
Gamecock Notables:
– Fifth-ranked Paul Jubb (24-3) owns the highest career dual-match win percentage (.837), career SEC win percentage (.813), and the highest win percentage against ranked opponents (.625) in the program’s history.
– With two weeks still remaining in the conference season, Jubb already ranks second in Carolina history in wins over ranked opponents (13) for a single season and is fifth over his career in ranked wins (20).
– True freshman Daniel Rodrigues (27-7) is just four wins shy of cracking the top-20 for single-season wins in program history.  Rodrigues leads the Gamecocks with 27 singles wins so far this season.
– Freshman Raphael Lambling (23-8) is just four wins shy of cracking the top-10 for most wins by a freshman in Carolina history.
– Joseph Brailovksy (24-10) is just three wins shy of breaking into the top-10 for most wins by a freshman in program history.
– Thomas Brown saw his first singles action of the conference season last week, going 2-0 from the No. 6 spot.
– South Carolina is a perfect 12-0 when winning the doubles point so far this season.
 
Scouting the Aggies:
– Texas A&M enters the weekend a perfect 6-0 in conference play with notable ranked non-conference wins over No. 1 Ohio State and No. 21 Oklahoma earlier this month.
– Juan Carols Aguilar has taken over the Aggies’ No. 1 singles spot, going 8-5 this season atop the lineup.
– Hady Habib owns an 8-2 record at No. 2 singles while Valentin Vacherot has gone 8-2 out of the No. 3 position.
– Barnaby Smith holds a 9-1 record so far this spring at No. 4 singles and enters the weekend with a team-leading six-match win streak.
– Texas A&M is a combined 39-30 (.565) in doubles play so far this season.
– Texas A&M won the 2018 regular season SEC Championship, going a perfect 12-0 in conference play last season.  The Aggies defeated Carolina 6-1 at home last April.
  
Scouting the Tigers:
– The Tigers have been ranked as high as No. 18 in the ITA Rankings so far this spring, going 2-4 to open SEC play with wins over Auburn and Arkansas.
– LSU won its only match last week, defeating Arkansas 5-2 at home.
– The Tigers have won four of five doubles points so far in SEC play.  LSU is a combined 27-15 doubles record in dual matches this season.
– LSU is 36-10 this season at the No. 4-6 singles spots, but is just 27-21 at the No. 1-3 positions.
– LSU will travel to Gainesville, Fla., to take on the Florida Gators on Friday night before making the trip to Columbia.
– Carolina has won two-straight over LSU including a 5-2 win last season in Baton Rouge, La.
  
Rankings Roundup:
South Carolina (18)
Singles

• No. 5 Paul Jubb
• No. 93 Daniel Rodrigues

Doubles

• No. 63 Paul Jubb/Raphael Lambling

 
Texas A&M (7)
Singles

• No. 32 Val Vacherot
• No. 62 Hady Habib
• No. 76 Barnaby Smith
• No. 77 Juan Carlos Aguilar

Doubles

• No. 23 Juan Carlos Aguilar/ Barnaby Smith

 
LSU (32)
Doubles

• No. 51 Rafael Wagner/Joey Thomas

* team rank in ()
 
Up Next for the Gamecocks:
South Carolina will be back on the road next weekend as they travel to Alabama to face Auburn on Fri., April 5, at 6 p.m. ET, followed by a match at Alabama on Sun., April 7, at 1 p.m. ET.

For men’s tennis updates, continue to check back with GamecocksOnline.com or follow the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).