Sept. 16, 2011
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina men’s tennis picked up five victories in its first day of action in 2011-12. Seven Gamecocks are split between two tournaments – Duke Fab 4 Invite and UNCW Collegiate Tennis Invitational. Sophomore Nick Jones led the way at Duke with a straight-set win in the Blue Bracket.
At Duke, four Gamecocks played under the leadership of head coach Josh Goffi, including a pair of freshmen. While two doubles teams struggled, the four singles entries yielded three victories. Playing in the top bracket of the event, Jones scored the biggest win. Facing Blue Devil Cale Hammond, Jones pushed through a second-set tiebreaker to advance in the bracket to take on No. 95 Anthony Rossi of Kentucky on Saturday morning. In the Black Bracket, freshman Andrew Adams scored his first collegiate victory, topping Virginia Tech’s Hunter Koontz 6-4, 6-2. Adams will face Alabama’s Ricky Doverspike, who is ranked No. 108 in the nation, in the quarterfinals. Matching his classmate, freshman Carl Eguez posted a solid 6-4, 6-4 victory over Elon’s Eric Turner in the White Bracket and will face Duke’s Fred Saba, the No. 93-ranked player in the nation on Saturday. Sophomore Chip Cox dropped into the consolation quarterfinals of the White Bracket after falling to Louisville’s Sebastian Stiefelmeyer Friday afternoon.
At UNC Wilmington, assistant coach Matt Lucas guided a trio of Gamecocks through the event. Freshmen Kyle Koch and Ben Barnette teamed for an 8-4 win in Flight A Doubles to kick off the event. In singles action, senior Henry Walker opened his final collegiate season with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Coastal Carolina’s Sam Bar in the Flight C bracket. Walker was back on court late Friday night in quarterfinal action. GamecocksOnline.com will post those results on Saturday.
Duke Fab 4 Invite
Singles Blue
Nick Jones (SC) def. Cale Hammond (Duke) 6-4, 7-6
Singles Black
Andrew Adams (SC) def. Hunter Koontz (VT) 6-4, 6-2
Singles White
Carl Eguez (SC) def. Eric Turner (Elon) 6-4, 6-4
Sebastian Stiefelmeyer (UL) def. Chip Cox (SC) 6-1, 6-2
Doubles Group A
Luke Somen/Corrado Degl’Incerti Tocci (VT) def. Chip Cox/Nick Jones (SC) 8-2
Doubles Group B1
Lucas Oliveira/Hunter Koontz (VT) def. Carl Eguez/Andrew Adams (SC) 8-5
UNCW Collegiate Tennis Invitational
Doubles Flight A
Kyle Koch/Ben Barnette (SC) def. Fernando Guillen/David Clavera (CU) 8-4
Doubles Flight B
Alfredo Rodriguez/Krzysztof Muzalewski (ODU) def. Matt Kealy (UNCW)/Henry Walker (SC) 8-3
Flight A Singles
Yusuke Kusuda (CCU) def. Ben Barnette (SC) 6-4, 6-3
Joe Young (TUL) def. Kyle Koch (SC) 6-3, 6-3
Flight C Singles
Henry Walker (SC) def. Sam Barr (CCU) 6-3, 6-3
