Feb. 6, 2009

Davidson Live Scoring | Charlotte Live Scoring

No. 51 South Carolina welcomes Davidson and Charlotte to the USC Indoor Fieldhouse on Sat., Feb. 7, for a men’s tennis doubleheader set to begin at 10 a.m. The Gamecocks (4-1) are beginning an eight-match home stand Saturday, honing their games for the beginning of SEC play in March.

South Carolina is led by junior Diego Cubas, ranked No. 42 in the country with a 13-4 singles record this season. He struggled at the No.1 singles position last weekend, but looks to rebound against the Wildcats and 49ers. Gamecock senior Jaime Cuellar and junior Ivan Cressoni have been the strong men for Carolina in dual-match play as both are undefeated playing in the Nos. 3 and 6 singles spots, respectively. Two of Cressoni’s four wins have come with the weight of the match on his shoulders as his two-set win against Ryan Smith delivered the final point for the 4-3 win over No. 58 Georgia Tech and his three-set victory put the Gamecocks on top 4-3 against No. 55 Indiana.

Davidson is 1-3 on the season and has lost its last three matches after a 7-0 victory over Boston University opened the spring season. Walker Lyons has played all four matches at the No. 1 singles spot but is just 1-3 on the season. Scott Myers and Calum Gee have been the most productive Wildcats with matching 2-2 records at Nos. 3 and 4 singles, respectively. Lyons and Myers combine for the top doubles tandem for Davidson with a 2-1 record.

Charlotte (0-1) dropped its season opener against No. 20 North Carolina last Saturday with Mike Anders and Charlie Martin-LeCamp picking up the team’s two singles victories in the 5-2 loss. After finishing fourth in the Atlantic 10 Conference Championship last season, the 49ers went a combined 45-36 in singles play this fall but managed just an 11-22 mark in doubles action. Senior Ricky Cuellar, brother of the Gamecocks’ Jaime, played the No. 1 singles position for the 49ers last week but was just 2-5 in the fall. Junior Jesse Hutchinson led Charlotte with an 11-2 record in the fall, followed closely by Moritz Bernhoerster’s 10-4 mark.

Saturday’s matches are the first of an eight-match home stand for the Gamecocks, which continues with a 1 p.m. match against Elon on Sat., Feb. 14.