No. 26 Gamecocks Home for Two SEC Matches
March 23, 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. — No. 26 South Carolina men’s tennis team will host two SEC opponents at the Carolina Tennis Center this weekend after being on the road since they defeated Clemson March, 10 at home. The Gamecocks will host No. 41 Vanderbilt on Friday, March 24 at 5 p.m. before hosting No. 23 Kentucky on Sunday, March 26 at 1 p.m. Admission and parking to all home tennis matches are free of charge.
Quotable
Head Coach Josh Goffi: “It’s great to be home after two consecutive road weekends. Those can take a lot out of you in the SEC. Vanderbilt and Kentucky are both very well coached and seem to be a little under ranked at this point in the season for what their overall level seems to be. Regardless, both teams are in the way for us to achieve our goals this year. We are definitely looking forward to the battles this weekend.”
Gamecock Notables
- South Carolina is 14-4 overall and 3-2 in SEC play this season.
- Junior Harrison O’Keefe was named SEC Co-Athlete of the Week, the league announced Wednesday, after defeating a top-25 opponent and clinching both SEC matches last weekend.
- O’Keefe jumped into the rankings at No. 88 this week after being unranked since Jan. 4.
- The doubles pairing of O’Keefe and Dennis moved into the No. 47 spot in this week’s ITA rankings, their first ranking as a duo and the first ranked pair for the team this season.
- Freshman Paul Jubb added his first two career SEC victories defeating Zvonimir Babic of Ole Miss and Juan Marino of Arkansas in the No. 6 spot.
- Junior Gabriel Friedrich is ranked No. 59 nationally, maintaining a top-60 ranking since his Feb. 21 ranking of No. 43.
- The Gamecocks defeated then No. 46 Ole Miss on the road Saturday, March 18 for the first time since 1993.
Quick Hits: No. 41 Vanderbilt
- The Commodores are 10-9 overall and 1-5 in conference play this season.
- Vanderbilt is coming off of a 1-2 weekend after splitting a doubleheader with No. 44 Auburn and Illinois State.
- Ranked singles: Cameron Klinger (43).
- Ranked doubles: Cameron Klinger and Pen Binet (14) and Lachlan McPhee and Billy Rowe (39).
- Head coach Ian Duvenhage enters his 12th season with the Commodores.
Scouting No. 23 Kentucky
- The Wildcats are 3-3 in the SEC and 12-7 overall this season, coming off a 4-3 loss to Mississippi St. at home.
- Ranked singles: William Bushamuka (17), Ryotaro Matsumura (24) and Nils Ellefsen (113).
- Ranked doubles: Beck Pennington and Enzo Wallart (27) and William Bushamuka and Nils Ellefsen (77).
- The Wildcats have three individuals with singles records with 11 or more wins, Ellefsen (11-3), Matsumura (11-5) and Pennington (13-3).
- Cedric Kauffmann is in his fifth season as the head coach of the Wildcats.
Up Next
After facing Vanderbilt and Kentucky this weekend, the Gamecocks hit the road for three SEC road matches. South Carolina will travel to Alabama Saturday, April 1 before heading to Tennessee on April 7 and Georgia on April 9.
