Jan. 24, 2015

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 29 South Carolina rallied in both doubles and singles play to post a 4-1 win over No. 31 Stanford in ITA Kickoff Weekend action at Linder Stadium at Ring Tennis Complex at the University of Florida. The Gamecocks (3-0) saw their youth step up at crunch time with the freshman duo of Harrison O’Keefe and Thomas Mayronne holding off the Cardinal (1-1) to clinch the doubles point and sophomore Andrew Schafer delivering the match-clinching point with a three-set win in singles.

Stanford took the first doubles match at the top of the order, but Schafer and Andrew Adams countered the win with one of their own in the No. 3 spot. The point would come down to the battle at No. 2, which was heated. O’Keefe/Mayronne had stormed out to a 5-2 lead, but, with the point on the line, Maciek Romanowicz and Tom Fawcett battled back to tie it up at 5-5. The Gamecock freshmen called on their tight-match experience from the fall, powering through the next two games to claim the 7-5 victory and give South Carolina the early match lead.

In singles play, Stanford again looked strong at the top and bottom of the order, but the Gamecocks were in control early in the 2-4 matches. Adams and Schafer, ranked No. 83 in the nation, closed out their first sets 6-2 in the Nos. 2 and 4 spots in the lineup. The Cardinal got first-set wins in the Nos. 1 and 6 positions and were up a break in the two other matches. No. 118 Kyle Koch dropped his first set to John Morrissey 6-4 in the No. 3 match, but O’Keefe had rallied from 1-4 to force a tiebreak in his No. 5 showdown with Nolan Paige. He continued his momentum with the 7-6 win to edge out the Gamecocks’ advantage.

Adams continued his workman-like play this season with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Romanowicz to put South Carolina up 2-0. O’Keefe was rolling against Paige, up 4-1 in the second set, while Koch fought back to win his second set over Morrissey 6-3. In the No. 4 match, though, No. 75 David Hsu had turned the tables on Schafer, forcing a third set with a 6-3 win in the second.

The teams traded points with Stanford taking the win in the No. 1 match and O’Keefe closing out Paige 7-6, 6-2 in the No. 5 contest, leaving the Gamecocks with a 3-1 lead with the Cardinal leading in the No. 6 match and tied at a set each in the Nos. 3 and 4 spots. As he did many times in his freshman season, Schafer delivered in the clutch, though, storming out to an early lead on Hsu and never looking back for a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 victory that sealed South Carolina’s first top-35 win of the season.

The Gamecocks advance to play SEC rival Ole Miss, ranked No. 32 in the nation this week, in the championship match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend event at 11 a.m. on Sunday. The winner advances to the National Indoor Team Championships at the University of Illinois Feb. 13-16. In their Saturday match, the Rebels trailed No. 13 Florida 3-0 before rallying for a 4-3 victory clinched by freshman Gustav Hansson in a third-set tiebreak in the last match on court.

#29 South Carolina 4, #31 Stanford 1

Doubles (Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2*)
1. John Morrissey/Robert Stineman (SU) def. Kyle Koch / Thiago Pinheiro (SC) 6-3
2. (46) Harrison O’Keefe / Thomas Mayronne (SC) def. Maciek Romanowicz / Tom Fawcett (SU) 7-5
3. Andrew Schafer / Andrew Adams (SC) def. Trey Strobel / Nolan Paige (SU) 6-3

Singles (Order of Finish: 2, 1, 5, 4*)
1. (25) Tom Fawcett (SU) def. (71) Thiago Pinheiro (SC) 6-4, 6-2
2. Andrew Adams (SC) def. Maciek Romanowicz (SU) 6-2, 6-1
3. (118) Kyle Koch (SC) vs. John Morrissey (SU) – Did Not Finish
4. (83) Andrew Schafer (SC) def. (75) David Hsu (SU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
5. Harrison O’Keefe (SC) def. Nolan Paige (SU) 7-6, 6-2
6. Thomas Mayroon (SC) vs. David Wilczynski (SU) – Did Not Finish