No. 16 Gamecocks Advance in Blue Gray
Feb. 24, 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. — No. 16 South Carolina men’s tennis battled for every point as it narrowly beat Texas Tech in the first round of the Blue Gray National Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Ala. Friday afternoon. The Gamecocks clinched a fiercely contested doubles point then carried the momentum into singles play to make a 4-3 final.
The doubles tandem of Harrison O’Keefe and Yancy Dennis put the Gamecocks on the board first taking a 6-3 victory in the No. 2 doubles. Alex Fennell and Sam Swank fell on court one, 6-4, cutting the lead to 2-1. Gabriel Friedrich and Paul Jubb battled to a 7-5 tiebreak to clinch the doubles point and give the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead heading into singles.
In singles, Andrew Schafer came out firing on all cylinders to a speedy 6-2, 6-4 win to double the Gamecock lead. Fennell followed suit, blanking his opponent in the first set and taking a 6-4 victory in the second set.
O’Keefe and Dennis fell in three sets on courts two and four, leaving it up to Friedrich and Thomas Mayronne to claim the match point.
In the No. 1 position, No. 43 Friedrich took a 6-4 victory in the first set but struggled to find his groove in the second set. He fought back in the third set against No. 54 Jolan Cailleau to clinch the match for the Gamecocks as Mayronne dropped his match in the third set to make a 4-3 final.
The Gamecocks advanced to the second round of the Blue Gray Invitational, meeting Auburn later the same day to play out the doubles point. The doubles duos of Fennell and Swank, and Dennis and O’Keefe took 6-4 triumphs, giving the Gamecocks a 1-0 lead heading in to tomorrow’s singles play.
The winner of tomorrow’s match will advance to the final, facing the winner of the Virginia Tech vs. Rice matchup.
Quoting HEAD Coach Josh Goffi
“What a battle against Texas Tech. They are a tough team that hasn’t gotten maybe what they deserve yet this year, but they are going to end up as a top team when it’s all said and done. I was impressed with how hard they fought all the way until the end. We needed a tough match to bounce back from that Georgia Tech loss to prove to ourselves that we were more resilient than what we showed that day. Our guys were expecting a tough match and they were ready when TTU made their pushes.
The guys did a good job coming back after a long, tough match with great energy and focus to take the doubles point against the home team, Auburn. We need to continue to focus on our side of the court tomorrow to prepare us for the SEC season.”
Up Next
The Gamecocks face Auburn in singles play Saturday, Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. CT in the second round of the Blue Gray. The winner of tomorrow’s match will advance to the final, facing the winner of the Virginia Tech vs. Rice matchup Saturday, at 3:30 p.m. CT.
