March 13, 2012
COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 33 South Carolina travels to arch rival Clemson for a 2:30 p.m. match on Wed., March 14, at Hoke Sloan Tennis Center. The Gamecocks (10-5) have faced three top-20 teams in their last four matches, and are looking to close out their three-match road swing with a victory over the Tigers (5-6).
South Carolina won its last three non-conference outings and is ready to build on a handful of good individual efforts last week. Senior Ivan Machado led the way with a pair of victories last weekend in the No. 3 spot in the singles lineup. Shaking off a tough first weekend of SEC play, the Brazilian defeated the nation’s 14th-ranked player by winning a super-tiebreaker on Friday at Kentucky. He followed that with a three-set comeback at Vanderbilt to stay perfect on the weekend. In doubles action, the reformulated team of sophomore Chip Cox and Nick Jones highlighted the top of the lineup for the Gamecocks. The duo opened the weekend with a win over the nation’s 27th-ranked duo on Friday and rolled to a win on Sunday to set up the team’s win of the doubles point at Vanderbilt.
Overall, the Gamecocks have six singles victories over nationally ranked opponents with Jones accounting for two of those as he lines up in the No. 1 spot in the order. Freshman Andrew Adams has a team-high 11 singles wins in dual matches, including an 8-2 record in the No. 2 position. His classmate Kyle Koch is close behind with 10 victories, guilt largely on a 5-1 mark in the No. 5 spot. Koch has amassed the most doubles victories this season with a 17-9 record with six different partners. Nearly half of those came while teaming with Jones for an 8-4 ledger.
Clemson is riding a two-match win streak after opening Atlantic Coast Conference action with a pair of wins. Yannick Maden is 19-5 in singles action, including an 8-2 record at the top of the Tiger lineup. Gerardo Meza is the only other Tiger with a winning record this season, coming in at 8-7, including a 4-4 mark in the No. 2 position.
The Gamecocks lead the series 60-40-2 overall, but the Tigers snapped a three-match skid to their arch rival with a 5-2 win in Columbia on March 23, 2011. South Carolina is 23-21 against the Tigers in Clemson and has won the last two times the teams have met on the Tigers’ home courts.
After three straight road matches, the Gamecocks are back in the palatial confines of Carolina Tennis Center on Sun., March 18, against College of Charleston and Coastal Carolina. The first match of the doubleheader begins at 10 a.m., and the final match is set for a 4 p.m. start.
