Aug. 31, 2015

Printable 2015-16_Schedule

COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina men’s tennis announced its 2015-16 fall and spring schedule, which includes 17 matches against NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago and 11 against teams that finished the 2015 season in the ITA top 30. Head coach Josh Goffi looks to prepare a promising young squad for the traditionally challenging SEC schedule with a busy fall lineup and contests against eight top-75 opponents before conference play begins in March.

Throughout conference play, the Gamecocks will play host to four SEC teams who made the NCAA Tournament last spring, including Mississippi State, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida, three of which finished in the top 25. The Gamecocks are set to host the 2016 SEC Tournament at Carolina Tennis Center as they look to build toward their fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament in five years.

“We are really looking forward to the upcoming year,” Goffi said. “We have a great group of guys who are eager to get out of the gates and compete. The fall schedule will be tailored to each player’s needs with quite a few tournaments varying in strength throughout the fall. The spring schedule will be exciting because it gives us a lot of opportunities to realize our potential. Our fans will be in for a treat this year with some real quality home matches.”

South Carolina will get the fall underway at the Georgia Tech Invitational Sept. 25-27 in Atlanta, Ga. The Gamecocks will participate in a variety of fall events from late-September to mid-November, including the South Carolina Collegiate Invitational, Mercer Invitational, ITA Carolina Regionals, SEC Invitational, NC State Invitational and the USTA Clay Court before wrapping up the fall at the Bulldog Scramble Nov. 13-15 in Athens, Ga.

The Gamecocks will open the spring schedule on Sat., Jan. 16, with a home doubleheader against Presbyterian and Winthrop before heading to Columbus, Ohio, to participate in the ITA Kickoff Weekend at The Ohio State University. There, the Gamecocks open with the University of Denver before taking on either host Ohio State or Wichita State.

After a home doubleheader with Georgia Tech and The Citadel on Sat., Jan. 30, the Gamecocks will hit the road for the entire month of February for matchups with six teams, all of which either made the NCAA Tournament last year or were a top-75 team. The road stretch begins with a trip to Winston-Salem, N.C., for a contest with Wake Forest, who finished 2015 ranked No. 13, before heading to Raleigh, N.C., to take on Bryant University and NC State, both of whom made the NCAA Tournament a year ago. The Gamecocks then travel to Tampa, Fla., where they will play two opponents who finished in the top 25 last year in South Florida and San Diego, before returning to the Palmetto State for a showdown at Clemson on Fri., Feb. 27.

Once again, the SEC slate will be loaded with a bevy of elite teams, as eight of the Gamecocks’ 12 league opponents made the NCAA Tournament a year ago, with six finishing the year in the top 30 and all but two in the top 75. Goffi’s young squad, which will be without a senior on the roster for the first time since the 1998-99 season, will open SEC play at home against Alabama on Fri., Mar. 4, before taking on Mississippi State the following Sunday.

The SEC Tournament will be played Apr. 20-24 at Carolina Tennis Center as the Gamecocks look to rebound from their first round exit last season. NCAA Tournament first- and second-round action takes place at campus sites May 6-8, while the 2016 NCAA Championships will be held in Tulsa, Okla., from May 19-30.