No. 19 Gamecocks Open SEC Tournament Play Friday

April 27, 2017

COLUMBIA, S.C. — No. 19 South Carolina men’s tennis will begin play in the SEC Tournament on Friday, April 28 at 6 p.m. ET in Knoxville, Tenn. The Gamecocks (20-5, 9-3) enter the tournament as the No. 4 seed, the highest seed for the program since 2005, and will face the winner of Thursday’s match between No. 18 Mississippi St. and No. 49 Vanderbilt in the third round Friday.

South Carolina added a 2-0 record to close out their regular season at 20-5 overall, the most wins since 2005, and 9-3 in the SEC, setting a program record for SEC wins and tying a program best regular season SEC finish at third.

LAST TIME OUT

The Gamecocks closed out their regular season with a bang, upsetting then No. 17 Mississippi St., 4-3, for the first time under head coach Josh Goffi, in a close match where tiebreak battles proved key. South Carolina dropped a tightly contested doubles point but rallied in singles play to battle it out for four singles victories.

History in the SEC Tournament

South Carolina is 11-25 in SEC Tournament matches since joining the league in 1992 and advanced to the quarterfinals in three of the last four seasons. The Gamecocks have 11 quarterfinal appearances in all, including seven in the last 12 seasons, and reached the semifinals once (1999). Carolina fell in a tough 4-3 decision to No. 13 Texas A&M in the quarterfinals of the tournament last season.

IN THE RANKINGS

• As a team, South Carolina comes in at No. 19, maintaining a top-20 ranking for two straight weeks.
• In singles, Gabriel Friedrich comes in at No. 52 and Harrison O’Keefe makes the rankings at No. 67.
• The doubles pairing of O’Keefe and Yancy Dennis come in at No. 18 in the rankings.

• QUICK HITS: No. 18 Mississippi St.

  • The Bulldogs are 17-7 overall, including an 8-4 record in the SEC and a 9-5 record on the road.
  • MSU has won the last five doubles points this season, taking a total of 14 this year.
  • Mississippi St. ended the regular season with a 4-3 loss to South Carolina on April, 16.
  • Ranked singles: Nuno Borges (3) and Strahinja Rakic (111).
  • Ranked doubles: Trevor Foshey and Niclas Braun (9).

  QUICK HITS: No. 49 VANDERBILT

  • The Commodores are 12-14 overall this season, including a 2-10 record in the SEC and a 2-7 record away from home.
  • Vanderbilt defeated Alabama 4-2 on Wednesday in the first round of the tournament.
  • Vandy fell to Mississippi St. this year in Nashville, Tenn. 5-2.
  • Ranked singles: Cameron Klinger (33), Daniel Valent (54) and Baker Newman (107).
  • Ranked doubles: Klinger and Pen Binet (21) and Lachlan McPhee and Billy Rowe (47).

  Up Next

  A victory would move South Carolina into the semifinals of the tournament on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET. For more information on South Carolina men’s tennis team follow them on Facebook and Twitter at gamecockmtennis or check out GamecocksOnline.com.