Friedrich Falls in Title Match at ITA Carolina Regionals

Oct. 18, 2016

CARY, N.C. – Gamecock men’s tennis junior Gabriel Friedrich had his run at the ITA Carolina Regional Championships end in the singles title match on Tuesday. The Porto Alegre, Brazil native fell to the tournament’s top seed, Skander Mansouri of Wake Forest, 6-4, 6-4.

“I’m really happy for Gabe making it through the draw and to the final,” said head coach Josh Goffi. “That’s definitely difficult to do in our region. It was a tough matchup today against Mansouri. Our goal was to jump all over his second serve to break his rhythm and stay on the baseline, in order to keep him from controlling the match. Gabe had a few openings today but he couldn’t take advantage of them. Credit goes to Mansouri for sure.”

Friedrich was not the only Gamecock to impress the last several days. Junior Thomas Mayronne continued his strong fall campaign by reaching the singles semifinals before falling to Friedrich. Sophomore Yancy Dennis came into the tournament sporting a 6-1 record this fall, including a DII singles title at the Georgia Tech Invite last weekend. Dennis reached the round of 16 this week before dropping his match to Duke’s Nicolas Alvarez, the 14th-ranked player in the nation.

“Overall, it was a great week for the whole team and I’m very proud of the heart that our guys showed,” said Goffi. “Gabriel, Yancy and Thomas each had a breakthrough tournament in their own right, and that’s very important for us for the spring season.”

Carolina gets back on the court when it heads to the Charlotte Invitational next weekend. The tournament kicks off on Friday, Oct. 28 and runs through Sunday, Oct. 30.