Jan. 22, 2011

COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 56 South Carolina hosts No. 23 Georgia Tech on Sun., Jan. 23, at 1 p.m. at the USC Indoor Fieldhouse. The Gamecocks will take photos and sign autographs while sharing pizza with the first 100 kids in attendance as part of USTA Campus Kids’ Day.

South Carolina split a doubleheader to open the 2011 spring campaign with a pair of Gamecocks turning in perfect singles afternoons. Sophomore Alexander Kostanov dominated a third-set tie breaker to win the No. 2 singles match in South Carolina’s 6-1 win over Wofford, then handily dispatched his No. 3 singles foe from Elon to close the afternoon. Freshman Chip Cox stamped his authority on his first collegiate outings, allowing his No. 4 singles opponent from Wofford just three games. He rallied back from a difficult first set in the No. 5 match against Elon to win a super-tiebreaker in the third to open the season with a perfect record.

Another newcomer, Nick Jones split his singles matches, both of which were tough battles. Playing the No. 1 spot against Wofford, he fought out a 7-5, 6-4 victory to kick off his college career. Playing in the No. 2 spot against Elon, Jones stretched the match to three sets but could not pull out the win.

Ranked No. 23 in the nation, Georgia Tech boasts a veteran lineup this season, including three players ranked among the nation’s top 100. The Yellow Jackets opened the spring season with a 6-0 win over USC Upstate last weekend. Senior Guillermo Gomez leads the way with a No. 12 national ranking. A two-time All-American who advanced to the Round of 16 at last year’s NCAA Men’s Singles Championship, he went 11-4 this fall, reaching the third round of the D’Novo/ITA All-American Tennis Championships. Sophomore Juan Spir turned in an 11-4 fall record to rank 48th in the nation. He also teams with Kevin King to form the country’s No. 8 doubles tandem. The duo went 15-4 in the fall, including winning the USTA/ITA Southeast Regional championship. Junior Dusan Miljevic is ranked 93rd in the country after turning in a 13-5 fall record.

In the all-time series between Georgia Tech and South Carolina, the Gamecocks hold a 28-10-1 edge. The Yellow Jackets scored their fourth win in six outings against South Carolina last season in Atlanta. The Gamecocks won the last meeting in Columbia, a 5-2 decision on Jan. 24, 2009. In fact, South Carolina has not dropped a home match to the Yellow Jackets since a narrow 4-3 defeat on April 8, 2004.