Jan. 12, 2012

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COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina men’s tennis kicks off its spring campaign with a trip to the SEC Indoor Championships in Lexington, Ky. The tournament begins on Fri., Jan. 13, with six other teams joining the Gamecocks at the annual event – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt. South Carolina has seven singles entries in the 64-player draw, and four doubles tandems will compete in the 32-team bracket.

Freshmen Ben Barnette and Carl Equez will kick off doubles action at 8:30 a.m. along with Andrew Adams and sophomore Chip Cox. Senior Ivan Machado will team with freshman Thiago Pinheiro for a 9:30 a.m. match, and sophomore Nick Jones and Kyle Koch team up for a 10:30 a.m. contest. All matches will be played at University of Kentucky’s Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex.

Machado headlines the quartet of Gamecocks opening singles action at 1 p.m. at the Lexington Tennis Club. The senior is ranked 17th in the Carolinas Region entering the spring season after advancing to the round of 16 at the Carolinas Regional to close out the fall campaign. Cox, Eguez and Koch also start their singles action at 1 p.m.

Ranked No. 14 in the Carolinas Region, Jones will lead Adams and Pinheiro in the 3 p.m. round of matches on Friday. Jones is 5-3 on the season after finishing fifth in the top bracket of the Duke Fab Four Invite and advancing to the round of 16 at the Carolinas Regional. Adams led the team with seven singles victories in the fall, taking third place in the Black bracket of the Duke Fab Four and reaching the consolation round of 16 in the Southern Intercollegiates.

A second round of singles, including the start of a consolation bracket, will take place on Friday as well.