Sept. 16, 2010

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina men’s tennis officially kicks off the Josh Goffi era at a pair of tournaments this weekend. Goffi will split his squad between the Duke Fab Four Invite in Cary, N.C., and the USC Upstate Fall Classic in Spartanburg, S.C. Both tournaments consist of singles and doubles draws and run Fri., Sept. 17, through Sun., Sept. 19.

The Gamecocks’ first-year head coach returns to his former stomping grounds to coach in the event he helped organize while an assistant coach at Duke. He is slated to bring junior Ivan Machado, sophomores Alexander Kostanov and Harry Menzies and freshman Jake Bowling to the event. Playing at the Cary Tennis Park, South Carolina joins host Duke, East Tennessee State, Indiana, Louisville, North Carolina, North Carolina Central, North Carolina State, Radford, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest in the event.

The 48-player singles field includes 11 nationally ranked student-athletes, including the No. 2 player in the nation and six others ranked among the country’s top 75. Bowling and Kostanov will play their opening-round matches in Section A of the event at 2:30 p.m. Friday. Machado is in Section B, while Menzies will compete in Section C. Both are slated to play at 2:30 p.m. as well. In the double-elimination format, the second matches for all four Gamecocks are scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Saturday.

On the doubles side, Machado and Kostanov will pair up in Section B, while Menzies and Bowling team up to challenge in Section C. Slated to start at 10 a.m., doubles matches will open the event Friday.

At the USC Upstate Fall Classic, South Carolina assistant coach Matt Lucas will guide senior Chris Sheehan and junior Henry Walker through the 14-team field that includes the host Spartans along with Anderson College, Armstrong Atlantic State, Augusta State, Campbell, Clemson, Davidson, Furman, Kennesaw State, Lenoir-Rhyne, Presbyterian College, USC Aiken and Wofford. Sheehan will compete in the top half of the Singles A draw, while Walker players in the top of the Singles B bracket. The two pair up in the Doubles A bracket as well.

This is the first of four weekends that the Gamecocks will compete in tournaments this fall.