Oct. 24, 2015

AUBURN, Ala. – Second-seeded Andrew Schafer recorded a pair of wins on Sunday, advancing to the finals of Flight B at the SEC Fall Classic in Auburn, Ala. The doubles team of Schafer and sophomore Gabriel Friedrich also advanced to the Semifinal Round in Flight B with a win.

On his way to the finals, Schafer ran through Tennessee’s Jack Heslin, 6-2, 6-1, in the quarterfinals before topping Mississippi State’s Fabian Fallert, 5-7, 6-2, 6-0, in the semifinals. He is set to face Vanderbilt’s Kris Yee on Sunday for the Flight B title.

The Gamecocks entered Saturday with both doubles teams in the quarterfinals of their respective flights. Second-seeded Friedrich and Schafer defeated Jacob Herndon and David Herrerias from Arkansas, 8-4, to reach the semifinals of Flight B, while junior Thomas Mayronne and sophomore Harrison O’Keefe fell in the semifinals of Flight A to Smelyanski and Preston Touliatos from Tennessee.

In singles, Mayronne continued his strong performance in Flight A with a 6-4, 7-6 win over Tennessee’s Igro Smelyanski in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Mayronne took 86th-ranked and fifth-seeded Elliot Orkin to the wire before ultimately falling 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Friedrich put together a strong performance in the Flight A Consolation bracket, advancing to the semifinals past No. 116 Rhys Johnson of Vanderbilt. Friedrich was up, 6-3, 3-0, before an injury to Johnson halted the match and put Friedrich through to the Semifinal Round where he fell to Arkansas’s Jose Salazar in three sets.

Play resumes Sunday at the Yarbrough Tennis Center. Stay tuned to www.GamecocksOnline.com for tournament information, and follow the team on Twitter (@GamecockMTennis) for updates.

SATURDAY RESULTS
SINGLES
Flight A
QF (8) Thomas Mayronne (SC) d. Igor Smelyanski (TENN), 6-4, 7-6
QF (5) Elliot Orkin (FLA) d. Harrison O’Keefe (SC), 7-5, 6-2
CQF Gabriel Friedrich (SC) d. Rhys Johnson (VAND), 6-3, 3-0 (ret)
SF (5) Elliot Orkin (FLA) d. (8) Thomas Mayronne (SC), 6-3, 6-2
CSF Jose Salazar (ARK) d. Gabriel Friedrich (SC), 3-6, 6-3, 7-5
Flight B
QF (2) Andrew Schafer (SC) d. Jack Heslin (TENN), 6-2, 6-1
SF (2) Andrew Schafer (SC) d. Fabian Fallert (MISS), 5-7, 6-2, 6-0

DOUBLES
Flight A
QF Smelyanski/Touliatos (UT) d. (2) Mayronne/O’Keefe (SC), 8-6
Flight B
QF (2) Friedrich/Schafer (SC) d. Herndon/Herrerias (ARK), 8-4

SUNDAY MATCHUPS
SINGLES
Flight B
F (2) Andrew Schafer (SC) vs. Kris Yee (VAND)

DOUBLES
Flight A
CSF (2) Mayronne/O’Keefe (SC) vs. Nguyen/Krickovic (AUB)
Flight B
SF (2) Friedrich/Schafer (SC) vs. (3) Wardell/Kessler (FLA)