Chat With Men’s Tennis Coach and Players Wednesday Coach DeMars, Ben Atkinson, Tom Eklund, and Jaime Cuellar will chat with fans this Wednesday at 1 p.m. (ET). The men’s tennis team is headed for the Sweet 16 this weekend after a pair of dramatic 4-3 wins over Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in the NCAA Stillwater Regional this past weekend. Coach DeMars, Ben Atkinson, Tom Eklund, and Jaime Cuellar will chat online this Wednesday at 1 p.m. (ET). You can submit your questions to the the coach and players prior to the chat on Wednesday by filling out the form below. South Carolina Head Coach Kent DeMars USC Head Coach Kent DeMars is in his 32nd year as a college head coach, and his 21st season at the helm of the Gamecock men’s tennis program. In his career, he has totaled more than 540 career wins and has led USC to 21 consecutive Top-30 rankings and 12 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances. That streak ranks at the top of all Carolina teams who compete in bracket-style tournaments, and is tied for fifth among NCAA men’s tennis teams in the nation. DeMars, a native of East St. Louis, Illinois, has led USC to six of their seven all-time appearances in the NCAA Tournament, including the 2005 season, a season that saw his Gamecocks set an all-time best SEC win mark and score a school-record seven Top-25 upsets. DeMars has won numerous accolades for his accomplishments in college tennis, including the 1979 Division II National Coach of the Year, 1986 ITA Meritorious Service Award, seven NCAA Region II Coach of the Year awards, and was inducted into the South Carolina Tennis Hall of Fame in 1996. His most prestigious award, however was the 1989 ITA/Wilson Division I National Coach of the Year, the same year he led USC to an all-time Region II-best Final Four appearance in the NCAA Tournament. South Carolina senior Ben Atkinson Carolina’s only senior in 2005, Ben Atkinson has been excellent in garnet and black for his four years at USC. He as accumulated more than 125 career victories, and is just one doubles win shy of 15th place on the all-time win list at Carolina, and just one singles win shy of 25th all-time on that list. The Yorkshire, England native has had many key victories for the Gamecocks, but possibly none more important than his win this past Sunday. In what was one of the best victories in school history, Atkinson capped USC’s comeback from 3-0 down with a third-set tiebreaker win at No. 6 singles, giving Carolina a 4-3 upset of Stillwater Regional host and 13th-seeded Oklahoma State. South Carolina junior Tom Eklund Gamecock junior Tom Eklund has joined the ranks of USC’s elite players this season. Eklund, who calls Hollviken, Sweden his home, became just the fourth Gamecock ever named to the All-SEC First Team, and just the 15th player ever named to any All-SEC team. He also set a school-record in becoming the first Carolina player to ever be named SEC Athlete of the Week twice in a single season. Later this month, Eklund will join teammates Pedro Rodrigues and Geraldo Knorr in College Station, Texas for the NCAA Individual Championships. Eklund, who is the 16th player from USC to ever reach the NCAA’s as an individual, received an at-large berth as the nation’s 35th-ranked player. With his win at No. 1 singles on Saturday against Oklahoma, Eklund surpassed the 100-combined win mark for his career, joining Atkinson as the second active player at Carolina with at least 100 combined career wins. South Carolina freshman Jaime Cuellar One of Carolina’s newest faces, freshman Jaime Cuellar has come in and made an immediate impact on the Gamecocks’ lineup. Starting out the season in the No. 4 singles and No. 2 doubles, Cuellar moved up to No. 3 in the singles lineup early in the conference schedule and has stayed there ever since. The El Salvadorian native is in the midst of one of, if not the most successful season ever for a true freshman at USC. He has already accumulated 28 singles wins and 24 doubles victories, highlighted by a 14-match winning streak in singles matches from January through March. Boasting a 16-13 mark in doubles with partner Tom Eklund, Cuellar is vying to become just the third true freshman in USC history to lead the team in both singles and doubles victories. The last freshman to accomplish that was Vladimir Pavicevic in 1998 and the only other Gamecock to pull off the feat was current USC assistant coach Jeff Kefalos (1973). |
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| Moderator: Good Afternoon and welcome to our chat with USC men’s tennis Head Coach Kent DeMars, junior Tom Eklund, senior Ben Atkinson, and freshman Jaime Cuellar. | |||||||||
| Ken (Lexington): Jaime, how have you dealt with the pressure of being a true freshman in the top half of the lineup and having to be the last one on court in several matches this season? Congratulations on a great season for you and the team and good luck in Texas. | |||||||||
| Jaime Cuellar: I am a freshman but I came in with a lot of international experience, playing Davis Cup before and other big tournaments helped me to handle my nerves better. | |||||||||
| Alex, from Sumter: Jaime, thank you for coming to USC. What makes you such a clutch player? | |||||||||
| Jaime Cuellar: I just love to be in those kind of situations. I think that’s why I play tennis, to be able to come up with the big matches and big wins for the team. | |||||||||
| El Salvador: Muchas Felicidades a todos los integrantes del equipo de Tenis masculino de la USC y al coach DeMars por su motivaci?n. Nosotros los Salvadore?os estamos Orgullos de los resultados y el aporte de Jaime Cu?llar. !Adelante! |
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| Moderator: Translation: Congratulatios to the men’s tennis team, USC, and Coach DeMars for his motivation. El Salvadorians are proud of your results keep it up Jaime! | |||||||||
| Jaime Cuellar: It is an honor for me to be part of USC Athletics and at the same time represent my country with my results. Thanks for keeping up with us! | |||||||||
| Michael – Greenville: This is for any of you…what do you feel you can learn from your season ending match against Florida and how will it help you against them this time? Best of luck in College Station and GO GAMECOCKS! | |||||||||
| Tom Eklund: They’re a good team but not unbeatable. We were close then and hopefully we can play a little better this time and get a head start and manage to get four points and win the match. | |||||||||
| Carrie from Conway: First of all congratulations to the team for making the Sweet 16 and to Tom for making the NCAA Singles tournament. Ben and Tom, as the older leaders of the team, what role do you feel you play in the success of the team? good luck in texas! | |||||||||
| Ben Atkinson: I think that we are really here just to guide the new guys and make sure that they keep focused on finishing the job at hand. | |||||||||
| Jake (Aiken): Ben, What’s do you feel your role is as the only senior and one of only three upperclassmen on the team, especially in situations like last weekend in Oklahoma and in matches such as Georgia and LSU? |
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| Ben Atkinson: I dont feel that I have to do too much extra. Everyone on the team is capable of competing and winning in their position. But i think that I am here to keep everyone focused on what our end goal is, whether that be winning a match or like last weekend and getting through to the “Sweet 16”. | |||||||||
| Moderator: We’d like to thank Jaime, Ben, and Tom for stopping by before practice to answer questions. Coach DeMars will now take questions for the remainder of the session. | |||||||||
| Joe — Spartanburg: Tom, great job getting to the NCAA’s and congrats on the team’s accomplishments as well. What do you feel you need to do to have a shot at the national singles title? Also, what do you think is necessary for the team to win in the tournament? | |||||||||
| Tom Eklund: For me to win the singles tournament I have to play the best tennis of my life five days in a row. For the team we need a llittle luck and everybody playing good. | |||||||||
| Karen in North Charleston: Coach DeMars, congratulations on your season and on an excellent 21 years at Carolina. I’ve followed the team for almost 15 years now and this team seems to have just as much of a shot at the title as any USC team since the ’89 team. What do you think it will take to beat Florida and go all the way this year? Also, if you had a choice of anyone to play in the Sweet 16 other than Florida who would it be and why? | |||||||||
| Coach DeMars: Even though Florida is an excellent team I feel we have a good chance because we almost won the doubles point last time and we split three of the singles and could have won those matches. I also think its harder to beat a team the second time around. Other than Florida I guess I would choose either Florida State( a team we are ranked higher than} or LSU,(a team we have already beaten). | |||||||||
| Brad (Union): Congratulations on the outstanding performances this past weekend and this season. What will it take to beat Florida in the Sweet Sixteen. The regular season match, even though it was 7-0, was within reach. Three matches were split and the doubles point was very close. Coach, good luck in Texas and look forward to seeing you in a few weeks at the Gamecock Tennis Camp. |
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| Coach DeMars: Thanks, Brad. I always feel it is harder to beat the same team the second time around. Also, since several matches were very close my guys feel they can take them this time around. We know they are very good but we are really looking foward to the match. Kent |
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| Chucke(Mauldin): Congragulations on making it to the Sweet 16!Do you think that you can beat Florida after losing to them in the regular season? | |||||||||
| Coach DeMars: Chucke, Well, I always think it is more difficult to beat the same team the second time around. We also, had several close matches and I know my guys are real motivated to play Florida again. We respect them but we feel if we play well we can beat them. Thanks. Kent |
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| John, Lexington: Congratulations Coach, I have watched USC’s Mens and Womens teams and have always wanted to ask why there is such a big difference in the level of play between the two (not ranking but skill). Even in doubles it seems there is less movement and a much lower level. Would you coach a USC’s womens team different than your Mens team? | |||||||||
| Coach DeMars: John, The level of play between the men and women are mainly due to strenght and speed, two very important factors. It is really hard to compare because we are so different. The Williams sisters dominated because of strenght and speed. Yes, you need to coach tactics to women different than the men because the game is different. For instance it is hard to teach a women a serve and volley game because most of women,s servers are not strong enough. Thanks, for asking. Kent |
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Scott Nelson: Good luck in the SWEET SIXTEEN. I follow the team online. If you get to the finals Mrs. Nelson and I will be there to cheer you on! |
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| Coach DeMars: Scott, It is good to hear from you. I still stay in touch with Dave from time to time. I hope you are all doing well. I, as well, hope to get to the finals and we would love to have you there. Remember if you are ever in Columbia please visit us. Thanks, for emailing. Kent |
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| Jason Williamston, SC: First, I would like to say thanks for taking Carolina Tennis to the sweet 16, and hopefully Carolina Tennis will bring home a National Championship in Tennis to USC this year!! Do you think we have what it takes to win it all this year? | |||||||||
| Coach DeMars: Jason, I think we can compete with anyone because we have beaten 5 teams in the top fifteen. All of these teams are very close and have beaten each other so it is mainly a situation of who gets hot. I feel like we are peaking at the right time, I only hope we can keep it going. I know one thing for sure and that is that the SEC conference has prepared us with all of the tough matches we have played. Thanks, for following us. Coach Kent DeMars |
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| Moderator: Thank you for having myself and my team online. We appreciate it. Kent DeMars |
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