Jan. 27, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. – In its first dual-match competitions of the season, the 56th-ranked South Carolina men’s tennis team captured two victories on Sunday, defeating Wofford, 6-1, and Troy, 5-2. The Gamecocks opened their season with an impressive 2-0 start behind a stellar effort from sophomore No. 74 Pedro Campos who collected two doubles and two singles victories on the day.

Carolina took early control of its match against the Terriers, winning all three doubles matches to take the doubles point. The team of senior Yevgeny Supeko and sophomore Diego Cubas defeated Andrew Stubbs and George Kernodle, 8-5. Sophomore Ivan Cressoni and sophomore David Wolff joined forces to defeat Scott Collins and Christopher Williams, 8-6, and freshman Chris Sheehan and senior Joe Veeder defeated Richard Cahi and Paul Bartholomy, 8-5, completing the doubles sweep.

Wolff was the first to prove victorious for the Gamecocks in singles action, defeating Williams, 6-3, 6-1 in the No. 4 position, while freshman Johannes Pulsfort followed shortly after with a 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 3 defeating Collins. Campos was the next to finish at No. 2 singles, taking an impressive 6-2, 7-5 victory over Kernodle, extending the Gamecock lead to 4-0 midway through singles competition. Suffering the lone loss of singles play for USC was No. 1 Cubas, falling to Stubbs, 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (7), however Sheehan defeated Schecter, 6-0, 6-4 and Cressoni completed play with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Donald to secure the 6-1 Carolina victory.

The Gamecocks continued to dominate in the afternoon match against Troy, again sweeping all three doubles match-ups to gain the doubles point. Cubas and Supeko led the pack with an 8-4 victory over Bastian Maucher and Benjamin Chomette, while Campos and Pulsfort joined forces for an 8-2 win against Mario Silva and Guilherme Sahadhi. Completing the USC sweep was the team of senior Jaime Cuellar and Wolff, defeating Dai Edwards-Evans and Andrey Morozov, 8-2.

Supeko won a hard-fought battle in the No. 1 singles position against the Trojans, defeating Chomette in three sets, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. Campos won at the No. 2 spot, 6-2, 6-4 over Kernodle before Pulsfort suffered a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 loss to Sahadhi at No. 3. In his first singles competition of the season, Cuellar captured a 6-3, 6-4 victory at No. 4 over Maucher and Cressoni closed a 6-3, 7-6 win at No. 5. Van Aerts proved to strong for Sheehan at No. 6, defeating the Carolina freshman 7-6.

Complete results are listed below:

Wofford Match Results
Singles:
1. Andrew Stubbs (Woff) def. Diego Cubas (USC), 3-6, 6-4, 1-0 (7)
2. Pedro Campos (USC) def. George Kernodle (Woff), 6-2, 7-5
3. Johannes Pulsfort (USC) def. Scott Collins (Woff), 6-1, 6-2
4. David Wolff (USC) def. Christopher Williams (Woff), 6-3, 6-1
5. Ivan Cressoni (USC) def. Alan Donald (Woff), 7-5, 6-4
6. Chris Sheehan (USC) def. Michael Schecter (Woff), 6-0, 6-4
Order of finish:
4, 3, 2, 1, 6, 5

Doubles:
1. Supeko/Cubas (USC) def. Stubbs/Kernodle (Woff), 8-5
2. Cressoni/Wolff (USC) def. Collins/Williams (Woff), 8-6
3. Sheehan/Veeder (USC) def. Cahi/Bartholomy (Woff), 8-5
Order of finish:
1, 3, 2

Troy Match Results
Singles:
1. Yevgeny Supeko (USC) def. Benjamin Chomette (Troy), 6-1, 3-6, 6-2
2. Pedro Campos (USC) def. Mario Silva (Troy), 6-2, 6-4
3. Guilherme Sahadhi (Troy) def. Johannes Pulsfort (USC), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
4. Jaime Cuellar (USC) def. Bastian Maucher (Troy), 6-3, 6-4
5. Ivan Cressoni (USC) vs. Andrey Morozov (Troy), 6-2, 7-6
6. Ed van Aerts (Troy) def. Chris Sheehan (USC), 7-6
Order of finish:
4, 2, 1, 3, 5, 6

Doubles:
1. Cubas/Supeko (USC) def. Maucher/Chomette (Troy), 8-4
2. Campos/Pulsfort (USC) def. Silva/Sahadhi (Troy), 8-2
3. Cuellar/Wolff (USC) def. Edwards-Evans/Morozov, 8-2
Order of finish:
1, 2, 3