Jan. 24, 2007

The 2007 season looks to be a promising one for the South Carolina men’s tennis team. Head coach Kent DeMars, now in his 23rd year at Carolina, welcomes back four of his top five players from a team that, despite a rash of injuries proved resilient, earning a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the 14th-straight season in 2006. South Carolina concluded with a 14-15 record last season, including seven victories over ranked opponents. The Gamecocks finished with a 5-6 record in SEC regular season action and won their opening round match at the SEC Tournament. The team also set a school record by winning four consecutive conference matches. These were impressive accomplishments, particularly considering that, on average, two of the team’s top six players were unavailable due to injury for the majority of the spring season. The good news is for the upcoming season is that DeMars’ 2007 squad will feature a number of experienced players.

“I am pretty high on the coming year because, of our top five players (from last year), we have four back,” DeMars said. “Our two, three, four and five players are back and I feel like they can step in a one, two, three and four this year. I have four pretty good freshmen coming in to fill out the team. I really feel that we will have a pretty good situation. We’re lined up nicely.”

Senior Pedro Rodrigues, juniors Jaime Cuellar and Yevgeny Supeko and redshirt sophomore Thomas Stoddard were all regulars in the starting lineup a season ago, and along with junior Joseph Veeder, provide an experienced nucleus for this year’s edition of Gamecock tennis.

Rodrigues appears poised to step in to the No. 1 singles spot for the Gamecocks, filling a void left by standout Tom Eklund, who exhausted his eligibility in 2006. Rodrigues fought through an ankle injury that caused him to miss a month of the season as a junior, but returned to the lineup where he played at the No. 3 singles position and posted a 7-1 record at No. 1 doubles with Eklund. Rodrigues was impressive in the fall, winning the A-1 singles flight at the UNC Fall Invitational.

“Pedro is a big serve and volley type of player who can also stay at the baseline. He’s really a pleasure to have because he’s got great personality, good leadership and he’s really improved a lot,” DeMars said of his captain. “All of the players respect him.”

Cuellar, who earned all-SEC honors in 2006, is back for the Gamecocks at the No. 2 singles position. He had a 17-10 singles record as a sophomore after leading Carolina with 28 singles victories as a true freshman in 2005. DeMars calls Cuellar the “blood and guts” of the team.

“It seems like he is always on the court when the match is tied. If he’s the last guy on the court, you feel like you’ve got a really good chance. He’s now getting bigger and stronger and I think that is the part of the game that he needed to develop, where he could not just play defense, but play offense, too. I think he could have a great year.”

Supeko transferred to South Carolina prior to the 2005-06 season and now has a year of experience in Columbia under his belt. After leading the Gamecocks with 18 singles victories last season, Supeko will look to gain consistency, a trait that will allow him to play anywhere in the lineup.

“Yev had a good fall,” DeMars noted. “He’s a power player with a big serve, a big forehand and a big game. He likes to go through you.”

Stoddard and Veeder gained invaluable experience last season. Both players saw action in dual match play, including against SEC competition.

“Thomas is a lefty and another back-courter and baseliner.” DeMars said. “He has a good, solid forehand and has excellent volleys. If we can get him to attack more and win points at the net, I think he can really help us out.”

Veeder saw the majority of his action in doubles.

“Joe plays a power game,” DeMars said. “He hits a big serve and has big ground strokes, particularly a big forehand. He tries to come to net to finish off the point.”

Freshman Pedro Campos (Salvador, Brazil), who was ranked in the top five as a junior in Brazil, played excellent tennis in the fall and looks to have solidified a position in the starting lineup. Campos posted a 10-4 singles record to lead the team and a 7-2 mark in doubles matches.

“Pedro Campos has a very solid back court game,” DeMars said. “He works angles really well, which is his offense. He gets you off the court and then puts the ball away.”

Campos is joined by classmates David Wolff (Sarasota, Fla.) and Spencer Feldman (Upper Brookville, N.Y.), who both had their first taste of college tennis in the fall, as well as Ivan Cressoni, a Brazilian player who enrolled at USC for the spring semester. All three are expected to compete for a position in the starting lineup.

Wolff and Feldman, who were both ranked in the United States Tennis Association’s top 75 as juniors, are both baseline players with extensive junior experience.

“While David’s biggest strength is his defensive play, he can step up and hit a big forehand to win points,” DeMars noted. “For a freshman, he’s got a good, solid game. He can keep the ball in play and knock it away. Those are good attributes.”

“Spencer is solid everywhere with his game. He’s an all-around player who still needs to develop some strength and power, which I think he will do in time. He’s got a great attitude. He has played all over the world and has a lot experience in high level tournaments.”

Cressoni is out of the same mold as Rodrigues, a strong athlete and serve-and-volley player.

“Ivan’s a big strong guy with a big serve. He likes to come to net and likes to finish points quickly,” DeMars said. “He attacks the ball and forces the point. He’s not a defensive player. He comes out and slugs away.”

Coming off a season when the team was decimated by injury, DeMars feels Carolina will be improved for the coming season.

“I think we would definitely be better this year than last year with all of the injuries we had. We were ranked 10th in the country last year and I thought we were better than that. We lost all of those people (to injury), but we were still able to win six matches against SEC teams and make the NCAA Tournament,” DeMars explained. “We’ve got a lot of good players on the team this year.”

South Carolina’s top players are all likely interchangeable.

“You could pick a name out of a hat,” DeMars said. “All of those guys are solid.”

Year in and year out, the Gamecocks are tested by a difficult schedule and the 2007 season will be no different. In addition to the always-tough SEC slate, Carolina will face four ACC opponents. Altogether, 11 teams that played in the 2006 NCAA Tournament are on the Gamecocks’ schedule.

“Arguably, our schedule is the best in the country because we play in the best league,” DeMars noted. “We’re also going to play four ACC teams that are all in the top 25 or 30 in the country. It puts you in position to have half a dozen significant wins. It makes a lot of difference in you getting into the NCAA Tournament.”