April 20, 2011

SEC Tournament Notes in PDF Format | SEC Tournament Bracket in PDF Format
SEC Tournament Website

Event: SEC Tournament
Dates: April 21-24, 2011
Location: Gainesville, Fla.
Facility: Ring Tennis Complex
First Match: vs. No. 20 Auburn, April 21, 9 a.m.

Scouting South Carolina
The Gamecocks are 6-17 this season as the promising young squad worked to replace the top three players in last season’s singles lineup. South Carolina is the 11th seed in this week’s SEC Tournament, but had a difficult time down the stretch relying on a handful of inexperienced players. Head coach Josh Goffi ended the season with a singles lineup that included just three players who, prior to this spring, had seen any SEC action – Alexander Kostanov, Ivan Machado and Johannes Pulsfort. Only Kostanov played higher than the No. 3 spot in league play coming into the dual-match campaign, but he and Machado have both seen time in the Gamecocks’ top spot this season. Freshman Chip Cox joined the program in the spring and has turned in a team-best 10 singles victories. He and Kostanov are tied for the team lead with three SEC wins. The duo combines for the Gamecocks’ best doubles team with a 5-8 overall record, including a 3-7 mark in league play. Prior to moving into the No. 1 spot for the last three matches of the season, Cox and Kostanov were 5-5 as the No. 2 tandem in the lineup. Freshman Nick Jones has played in 15 dual matches this season despite battling injury early in his debut campaign and illness late in the schedule. Sophomore Harry Menzies earned the last available spot in the singles order and has posted five victories, more than double his total from his freshman campaign. He earned his first career SEC win when he clinched the Gamecocks’ lone league victory of the season by topping Arkansas’ Matt Walters.

Gamecocks in the SEC Tournament
South Carolina is 8-19 in SEC Tournament matches since joining the league in 1992. The Gamecocks advanced to the semifinals in 1999 and have reached the quarterfinals eight times, including four of the last seven years.

Tough Slate
After losing its top three singles players to graduation, South Carolina has played a difficult schedule this season, especially down the stretch, facing teams ranked in the nation’s top 16 in its last four matches. In fact, this season, the unranked Gamecocks have played just six tams that were unranked at the time of the match, turning in wins in five of those matches. Each of the matches against unranked teams came in non-conference action as the SEC ranks among the nation’s elite men’s tennis conferences. With 11 of 12 teams in the national rankings, the SEC leads the country with six teams that appear among the top 25.

Menzies Named to Community Service Team
Sophomore Harry Menzies was named to the SEC Men’s Tennis Community Service Team this week. A regular in the No. 6 spot in the singles lineup this season, Menzies has been hard at work in the community as well. He participated in the “Real Men Read” program at Joseph Keels Elementary School in Columbia and has packed boxes for Operation Christmas Child the last two years. A volunteer at the Greek Festival and a participant in the SEC’s “Yes We Can” food drive, Menzies also played in tennis tournaments to raise funds for breast cancer research the last two summers.

Head Coach Josh Goffi
Taking the reins of the South Carolina men’s tennis program in July 2010, Josh Goffi immediately went to work building his team and proving his reputation as an elite recruiter. Just four months into his first head coaching position, Goffi added seven players to the Gamecock family, three of which joined the team this spring. In all, the group includes two Blue Chip recruits and two more who earned five-star ratings. Prior to his arrival at South Carolina, Goffi logged four seasons as an assistant coach – the last two of which came at Duke University. There he was a significant factor in inking 2009’s top recruit in the world and returning the Blue Devils to national prominence.