Men's Tennis . January 10, 2019

Gamecocks Kick Off Spring Season with Trio of Home Matches

South Carolina will host a doubleheader against The Citadel on Friday followed by a home match against Presbyterian on Sunday.

COLUMBIA, S.C.— Building off the first back-to-back winning SEC seasons in program history, No. 25 South Carolina men’s tennis kicks off its 2019 campaign this weekend as it hosts a doubleheader on Friday against The Citadel followed by a match against Presbyterian on Sunday.

Friday’s doubleheader against The Citadel is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., with the second match to follow. First serve between South Carolina and Presbyterian on Sunday is scheduled for 10 a.m.

Entering his ninth year at the helm, head coach Josh Goffi looks to continue elevating the Gamecocks’ level of play, having posted the first back-to-back top-25 final team rankings (21^st in 2017 and 23^rd in 2018) since the early 2000s.

Carolina was pegged as the 25^th-ranked team in the nation earlier this week in the first Oracle/ITA Team Rankings of the season. The Gamecocks’ young roster features seven total freshman and is highlighted by junior Paul Jubb, who begins the season as the No. 7 singles player in the country.

Jubb will lead from the top of the South Carolina lineup following a 12-2 fall, during which he won the singles title at the ITA Carolina Regional and advanced to the quarterfinal of the ITA Fall National Championships. “It’s a new frontier for Paul,” said Goffi. “He’s coming back with a gigantic bullseye on his back. But he’s a cool customer— he’ll get through it, and I think he’s going to have a great year.”

South Carolina has not dropped a season-opening match under Goffi and has swept doubleheaders against The Citadel to kick off the spring each of the past two seasons.

Admission and parking to all Gamecock tennis matches are free to the public.

Gamecock Notables:
– No. 7 Paul Jubb finished up the fall with a 12-2 singles record that included seven-consecutive wins to capture the ITA Carolina Regional singles title.
– Yancy Dennis is the team’s lone senior and begins the spring with the third-best dual-match winning percentage (.635) in doubles in program history.
– No. 72 Joseph Brailovsky made his way into the final Oracle/ITA Singles Rankings of the fall following a 13-4 fall tournament record. Brailovsky also went 7-4 in doubles play during the fall tournament slate.
– Daniel Rodrigues (14-3) captured an A-flight title his last time out at the Wake Forest Invitational to cap a strong fall tournament schedule. Rodrigues won seven of his last eight matches to finish the fall.
– Raphael Lambling (12-3) also closed out his fall with an A-flight title at the Wake Forest Invitational, winning 10 of 11 singles matches to wrap up his first semester of collegiate tennis.

Match Preview (The Citadel):
– The Gamecocks hold a 27-4 lead in the all-time series against The Citadel with an active 21-match win streak that dates back to 1968.
– The in-state matchup between South Carolina and The Citadel dates back to 1951 when the series began with a pair of Gamecock victories.
– The Citadel had nine singles wins over Florida A&M to open its spring schedule last weekend.

Match Preview (Presbyterian):
– South Carolina holds a 16-10 advantage in the all-time series against Presbyterian having won 15-consecutive matches dating back to 1973.
– Carolina has swept both matches against Presbyterian under coach Goffi (4-0 in 2013 and 7-0 in 2016).

Quotable- Head Coach Josh Goffi:
“We’re young but we’re good. Being young, there’s going to be a lot of ups and downs. We’ll have a few hiccups I’m sure— but that’s just maturity and learning. The class that we just brought in, they’re go-getters and they’re completely capable of competing with anybody in the country.”

Up Next for the Gamecocks:
Carolina will make history next week as it travels to Melbourne, Australia for the first dual matches at the Australian Open. The Gamecocks will be joined by Southern California for both exhibition and regular-season matches, marking the inaugural contests to take place on location during one of the four professional Grand Slam events.

South Carolina will play an exhibition match against fifth-ranked Southern Cal on Sun., Jan. 20^th, at 6 p.m. ET, before taking on the Trojans in a regular season dual-match on Tues., Jan. 22^nd, at 12 a.m. ET.