Jan. 21, 2012
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina men’s tennis (1-0) defeated Appalachian St. (0-2) by a score of 7-0 in the first match of their opening day doubleheader. Three freshman Gamecocks made their dual singles match debut and all of them impressed as the Garnet and Black picked up their first win of the 2012 campaign.
The Gamecocks opened the Appalachian State match with a hard-fought doubles point. In the No. 3 match, Chip Cox and Andrew Adams were on serve with ASU’s Andrew McKinnon and Steve Karendal through seven games before the Gamecock duo won the next four to pick up an 8-3 victory. On Court 1, Nick Jones and Kyle Koch were up a break early at 3-2 and carried that advantage behind strong serving from Jones through 6-5. The Mountaineers broke through to knot the match at 6-6. The Gamecocks young duo was steady down the stretch, collecting another break to go up 8-7 and held on for the 9-7 win to clinch the doubles point.
Senior Ivan Machado kept the momentum going for South Carolina by defeating Alain Humblet in the No. 2 spot in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3. Jones followed shortly after by taking care of Appalachian’s top player Alex Markov in the No. 1 match by a score of 6-4, 6-3. The sophomore held his seve for the entire match and put the Gamecocks one point away from the victory. In the No. 4 spot, Cox clinched the victory for South Carolina by defeating Sebastien King, 6-3, 6-2. Cox came back from being broken early in the first set to win the last three games and give him a set advantage. The second set was dominated by the Myrtle Beach native, breaking King on his first two serves to close out the match and clinch the win for the Gamecocks. South Carolina kept the foot on the gas with the game in hand as freshman Carl Eguez made his collegiate debut in the No. 6 spot with an impressive 6-0, 6-1 victory over Matt Saltsgaver. Eguez was perfect in serve and put together an impressive 11 game win streak in the victory. Fellow freshmen Andrew Adams and Kyle Koch also picked up their first wins at South Carolina by defeating thier opponents 7-5, 7-6(7-5) and 6-3, 6-4 respectively.
South Carolina is back in action this afternoon at 4 p.m. vs. Wofford at the USC Indoor Facility in the second leg of their opening weekend of play. Check back to GamecocksOnline for updates on this afternoon’s match.
South Carolina 7, Appalachain State 0
Doubles
Nick Jones / Kyle Koch (SC) def. Philip Kloc/Alain Humblet (ASU) 9-7
Alex Markov/Sebastien King (ASU) def. Ivan Machado / Thiago Pinheiro (SC) 9-7
Chip Cox / Andrew Adams (SC) def. Andrew McKinnon/Steve Karendal (ASU) 8-3
Singles
Nick Jones (SC) def. Alex Markov (ASU) 6-4, 6-3
Ivan Machado (SC) def. Alain Humblet (ASU) 6-2, 6-3
Andrew Adams (SC) def. Philip Kloc (ASU) 7-5, 7-6(7-5)
Chip Cox (SC) def. Sebastien King (ASU) 6-3, 6-2
Kyle Koch (SC) def. Steve Karendal (ASU) 6-3, 6-4
Carl Eguez (SC) def. Matt Saltsgaver (ASU) 6-0, 6-1
