May 9, 2013

Tournament Notes | Live Video |

First Serve
South Carolina is enjoying its best season since 2005, hitting several milestones along the way to its 18-10 overall record. Currently ranked No. 17 in the nation, the Gamecocks’ 18 wins are the most since the 2005 team went 20-10 en route to the NCAA Sweet 16. South Carolina finished a program-best tied for third in the SEC, tying the school record for SEC wins in a season with seven. The Gamecocks posted their first four-match SEC win streak since 2006 (at Auburn, at Alabama, Arkansas, LSU), which was kicked off by their first SEC weekend sweep since 2006. The regular season’s final win was the program’s first over a top-10 opponent since 2005 and lifted the Gamecocks to their highest national ranking since coming in at No. 17 on March 31, 2009. South Carolina went on to reach the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2008, defeating LSU 4-3. Proving to be a challenge throughout the lineup, all six singles entries this season won at least three SEC matches, the most Gamecocks to hit the mark in a season since 2003.

Gamecocks in the NCAA Tournament
South Carolina is 13-20 all-time in NCAA Tournament matches, spanning 20 appearances in the event. The Gamecocks have made the field in each of the last two seasons. South Carolina has played in the Sweet 16 six times, most recently in 2005, and the program’s best showing was a spot in the semifinals of the 1989 tournament. The Gamecocks earned spots in the NCAA Tournament for 13 straight seasons from 1994 through 2006. This season, South Carolina has played 20 matches against teams in the 2013 tournament field, posting a 10-10 record. Of the SEC’s 13 teams, 12 earned spots in the NCAA Tournament this season, and the Gamecocks took on seven non-conference opponents who earned a spot in the field – Clemson, Michigan State, NC State, Texas, UNC Wilmington, VCU and Wake Forest.

Awards Show
South Carolina’s impact on the SEC this season was evident in more than the team standings as the league’s coaches heaped praise on the 2013 team. Head coach Josh Goffi was named conference coach of the year by his peers, who went on to name three Gamecocks to the All-SEC Second Team. It was the first time since 1999 that three Gamecocks earned all-conference honors. Andrew Adams, Tsvetan Mihov and Thiago Pinheiro joined trios from Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas A&M as the most selections from one team.

Against UNC Wilmington
The Gamecocks are 3-0 all-time against UNC Wilmington, including this season’s 4-3 victory on Feb. 20. This will be the first postseason meeting between the two teams. In the match earlier this season, South Carolina held off a late charge by the Seahawks. The Gamecocks opened up a 3-0 lead, but the fourth point was difficult to come by. The Seahawks’ top two players won their matches to get within reach at 3-2 with the remaining two matches late in their third sets. South Carolina senior Harry Menzies, playing in the No. 6 match, pushed through a series of late service breaks and a misfire on his first match point to deliver on his second opportunity and clinch the Gamecock victory.

On Deck
If South Carolina advances to Saturday’s match, the Gamecocks have markedly different histories with their potential opponent. Duke holds a 28-17 edge over South Carolina in a series that dates back to both teams’ time in the ACC in the mid-1950s. The Gamecocks have faced the Blue Devils in the NCAA Tournament twice, including a 4-3 loss in Durham in the 2000 version of the event. The teams last met on April 11, 2001, with Duke posting a 7-0 victory. The Gamecocks are 6-0 all-time against Coastal Carolina, including a 5-2 win on March 18, 2012, in Columbia.

Program Building
In just his third season at the helm, South Carolina head coach Josh Goffi has turned a struggling team and into a top-25 program. Taking the reins in 2010-11 with a graduation-depleted roster, the first-year head coach endured a 6-18 season by signing the third-ranked recruiting class in 2011. That group’s arrival on campus began the program’s transformation back into a national presence with a 15-12 record in 2012 that earned South Carolina a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in three years. The Gamecocks’ 33 wins in the last two years are more than any two consecutive efforts since the 2005 and 2006 teams combined for 34 victories. More importantly, the wins have come in the SEC and against the nation’s best teams.

Reading the Rankings
The Gamecocks have been among the nation’s top 25 in the last six rankings released, including three ranked in the top 20. South Carolina currently maintains its season-high ranking of No. 17, first reached in the April 16 release. The last time the Gamecocks spent this long (six weeks) among the top-25 teams in the country was 2009 when a six-week span included the program’s last top-15 ranking on March 10.

Double Duty
For the first time in school history, two South Carolina doubles teams are ranked among the nation’s top 40. Juniors Chip Cox and Tsvetan Mihov have steadily marched up the rankings since debuting at No. 33 on Feb. 26. The duo’s 5-6 record against nationally ranked foes includes a 3-3 mark against top-25 tandems, which has moved them into the No. 17 spot this week. Cox and Mihov climbed as high as 14th in the nation heading into the SEC Tournament. In their win over LSU’s top tandem at the event, they became the highest ranked Gamecock duo to play a match since Jerome Jourdan and Vladimir Pavicevic entered the 1998 NCAA Tournament ranked No. 10. Cox and Mihov earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Doubles Championship later this month. Sophomore Kyle Koch and senior Harry Menzies team up to form the nation’s 39th-ranked duo. The Gamecocks’ No. 2 tandem was 7-5 in SEC action as part of its 15-7 overall record. Their 15 wins are the most dual-match victories for a Gamecock duo since All-American Guillaume Legat teamed with Olof Akesson to post an 18-5 mark in the No. 2 doubles spot in 1998.

Tough at the Top
Junior Tsvetan Mihov joined the Gamecocks for the spring season and immediately impacted the top of both the singles and doubles lineups to earn a spot on the All-SEC Second Team. Ranked 31st in the nation this week, he is tied for second on the team with 15 dual-match victories, with six coming in SEC action, including two over top-10 opponents in the last two weeks of the regular season. Only three other players in school history have accumulated at least six SEC singles wins from the No. 1 spot. Mihov tied Tom Eklund’s 2005 total. Prior to that, All-American Guillaume Legat’s 9-1 record in 2001 bested the previous school record of seven set by All-American Johan Sandberg in 1994. Mihov earned an at-large bid into NCAA Singles Championships in addition to his doubles selection later this month.

All A’s
Shaking off a nagging injury that got his 2013 spring campaign off to a slow start, Andrew Adams followed up his ITA Carolina Region Rookie of the Year freshman effort by earning All-SEC Second-Team honors this season. Ranked 81st in the nation this week, the sophomore went 5-4 in SEC singles action as part of his 10-8 overall dual-match record and posted four wins against nationally ranked foes, including a three-set win in the first round of the SEC Tournament to set up the Gamecocks’ first win at the event since 2008. Adams joined the fray in doubles in late March, teaming with Thiago Pinheiro in the No. 3 spot in the order. The duo was undefeated in its first six matches, helping the Gamecocks win the doubles point in five of their last six outings.

Three’s a Charm
The No. 3 entry in the Gamecocks’ singles lineup, Thiago Pinheiro is not only the most gregarious personality on the team, but he is also the emotional center of the group. The sophomore captured a spot on the All-SEC Second Team and earned team MVP honors from his coaches, as much for his results as for how much effort he gives – including a three-set comeback to clinch the team’s the first round of the SEC Tournament, which he finished with cramping and dehydration. Pinheiro has the team’s top winning percentage in dual matches at .789 (15-4) and went 5-3 in SEC action. In proof of his value to each Gamecock on the court, South Carolina is winless in the five matches during which Pinheiro did not register a point for the team in singles.

Koch-ing on High
Sophomore Kyle Koch turned a rough start to his spring into one of the most successful SEC seasons in school history. After posting a 7-7 non-conference record that included five tough three-set losses, the Irmo, S.C., product committed to restarting his season when SEC play began. Koch won eight straight SEC decisions in singles, dropping just three doubles matches during the stretch as well. He closed the season with nine SEC victories, tying him for the second-most in school history, trailing the record by just one.