May 19, 2015
WACO, Texas – The top doubles team for South Carolina men’s tennis, Kyle Koch and Thiago Pinheiro, earned an at-large selection to the NCAA Men’s Tennis Doubles Championship, which begins on Thu., May 21, at Baylor’s Hurd Tennis Center. It is the first selection for both to an NCAA individual championship.
Koch and Pinheiro are ranked No. 29 in the nation with a 13-8 overall record. The duo played exclusively in the top spot in the Gamecocks’ doubles lineup, turning in a 10-8 record there, including four wins in SEC action. A 6-2 win over then-No. 8 Harrison Adams and Shane Vinsant of Texas A&M highlights the pair’s four ranked victories this season. Koch/Pinheiro also stretched Georgia’s top tandem, currently ranked No. 1 in the nation, to a tiebreak when they met on March 22.
South Carolina’s senior duo has faced seven other pairs in the 32-team bracket, four of which are currently ranked among the nation’s top 10. In addition to their win over Texas A&M’s top team, Koch and Pinheiro powered past Mississippi’s Zvonimir Babic and Nik Scholtz, who are currently ranked 27th in the nation.
Koch and Pinheiro will take on No. 20 Nicolas Alvarez and Raphael Hemmeler of Duke in the first round. The winner advances to play either No. 5 Gonzales Austin/Rhys Johnson (Vanderbilt) or No. 22 Hugo Dojas/Felipe Soares (Texas Tech).
Times for the doubles bracket will be announced following this afternoon’s team championship match between Oklahoma and Virginia. Information, including live scoring, on both men’s and women’s individual championships is available at: BaylorBears.com.
