Gamecocks Fall at No. 19 Wake Forest, 5-2
Feb. 7, 2014
COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 26 South Carolina saw its late rally come up short in both singles and doubles in a 5-2 loss at No. 19 Wake Forest. The doubles point came down to a tiebreak in the final match on court, and the Demon Deacons clinched the win with a tiebreak in the No. 2 singles match as the Gamecocks were mounting a comeback on two other courts.
“I’m proud of the way our guys fought today,” South Carolina head coach Josh Goffi said. “Wake played well rom start to finish, and they definitely deserved this win. But, we are getting close to where we need to be, getting better every day. We’re looking forward to more improvement on Sunday at NC State.”
Wake Forest struck first with a quick 6-1 win in the No. 3 doubles match, but South Carolina answered with a win at the top of the lineup. Tsvetan Mihov and Thiago Pinheiro played in the No. 1 spot for the first time and got a late service break to defeat No. 30 Adam Lee and Pedro Dumont 6-4. South Carolina’s ranked doubles team of Chip Cox and Kyle Koch, No. 24 in the nation, moved into the second position in the order and their match with Romain Bogaerts and Maksim Kan stretched into a tiebreak. The Demon Deacons got ahead early at 4-2 and held on for a 6-5 (4) victory to give Wake Forest the early 1-0 advantage.
Ranked No. 20 in singles, Bogaerts wasted little time doubling his team’s lead with a 6-1, 6-0 win over No. 41 Mihov at the No. 1 spot in the order. Cox got the Gamecocks on the board with an efficient 6-2, 6-1 win over Pedro Dumont in the No. 5 position to lift his spring singles record to 7-1.
South Carolina was down a set in the Nos. 2 and 4 matches with Koch and Andrew Adams, but Pinheiro and Andrew Schafer pushed their Nos. 3 and 6 matches, respectively, into tiebreaks as the Gamecocks looked to start a rally. The Demon Deacons rose to the challenge, though, winning both tiebreaks to go up a set on all four courts still competing.
The Gamecocks looked high in the lineup to find inspiration, and all three veterans delivered, with Pinheiro and Adams each going up a break in his second set and Koch battling to get back on serve after an early break in his. The Demon Deacons needed to win just one of those three matches, however, as Jaya Billa closed out Schafer in the No. 6 match with a 6-2 final-set win to give the Gamecock freshman his first singles loss of the spring.
Jon Ho got back on serve in his No. 4 match with Adams, but Pinheiro closed out Kan with a 6-3 second-set victory. Koch’s battle with Lee went to a tiebreak with the match on the line, and the Demon Deacons’ senior jumped out to an early lead and closed out his 6-5 (3) win to deliver the team victory as well.
The two teams played out the remaining to matches with Adams outlasting Ho in a long second-set tiebreak, 6-5 (8). Pinheiro kept his momentum going in his third set with an early break en route to his 6-3 win over Kan. With the match decided and down a break at 3-0, Adams retired in his third set to end the match.
The Gamecocks head to No. 35 NC State for Sunday match before taking some time off before a home weekend on Fri., Feb. 21, and Sun., Feb. 23.
#19 Wake Forest 5, #26 South Carolina 2
Doubles (Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2*)
1. Thiago Pinheiro/Tsvetan Mihov (SC) def. (30) Adam Lee/Pedro Dumont (WF) 6-4
2. Romain Bogaerts/Maksim Kan (WF) def. (24) Chip Cox/Kyle Koch (SC) 6-5 (4)
3. Aws Laaribi/Anthony Delcore (WF) def. Andrew Adams/Andrew Schafer (SC) 6-1
Singles (Order of Finish: 1, 5, 6, 2*, 4, 3)
1. (20) Romain Bogaerts (WF) def.. (41) Tsvetan Mihov (SC) 6-1, 6-0
2. (59) Adam Lee (WF) def. (103) Kyle Koch (SC) 6-4, 6-5 (3)
3. Thiago Pinheiro (SC) def. Maksim Kan (WF) 5-6 (7), 6-3, 6-3
4. Jon Ho (WF) def. Andrew Adams (SC) 6-2, 5-6 (8), 0-3 retired
5. Chip Cox (SC) def. Pedro Dumont (WF) 6-2, 6-1
6. Jaya Billa (WF) def. (91) Andrew Schafer (SC) 6-5 (2), 6-2
