Feb. 18, 2006
Seattle – The South Carolina men’s tennis team was upset by 13th-seeded Florida State, 4-1, in the consolation bracket of the USTA/ITA National Team Indoors in Seattle, on Saturday. The Gamecocks (6-3, 0-0 SEC) earned their only point at No. 1 singles, where senior Tom Eklund knocked off No. 49 Sam Chang in straight sets. Carolina will face 16th-seeded Pennsylvania in their final contest in Seattle on Sunday at the Seattle Tennis Club.
USC was quickly down a match in the doubles point, where Thomas Stoddard and Adam Adler dropped an 8-1 match to Chang and Chris Cloer at No. 3 doubles. Unlike against Ole Miss on Friday, the Gamecocks were unable to mount a comeback, as the Seminoles clinched the point with Maciek Sykut and Drew Bailey taking an 8-4 decision over Tom Eklund and Jaime Cuellar at No. 2 doubles. The loss was the first of the season for Eklund and Cuellar, who fell to 6-1 in dual match play.
In singles, Adler fell 6-1, 6-0 to Bailey at No. 6 singles, extending FSU’s lead to 2-0 in the match. Carolina would cut that deficit in half with Eklund’s 6-1, 6-4 upset over Chang on court one just minutes later, but the Seminoles’ Jason Hood defeated Stoddard 6-1, 7-6(4) at No. 5 singles to make it 3-1 for Florida State. The Gamecocks’ hope of a comeback would end at No. 3 singles, when 76th-ranked Sykut downed Yevgeny Supeko 6-3, 7-5 to seal the win for the Seminoles.
South Carolina will now face 16th-seeded Pennsylvania in the final round of the consolation bracket on Sunday morning. The match is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. (ET). Sunday’s match will be the first ever meeting between the Gamecocks and Quakers.
