Gamecocks Dominate No. 28 Vanderbilt

COLUMBIA, S.C.-  No. 32 South Carolina (13-5, 3-4 SEC) men’s tennis captured five singles wins and a second-straight doubles point in a 6-1 win over No. 28 Vanderbilt (13-6, 3-4 SEC) on Saturday at the Carolina Tennis Center.  The win finishes off a perfect 2-0 weekend for South Carolina and improves its home record to 11-1 on the season and 18-2 over the past two seasons.

“Road wins are extremely tough in the SEC,” said head coach Josh Goffi.  “Everybody protects their house and we’ve got to eat up wins when we’re at home.  We love playing in front of the fans and our guys thrive in it.”

With Carolina controlling all momentum, No. 93 Daniel Rodrigues followed up wins on courts three and five with a second-set comeback to finish off a 6-3, 7-5 win on court two, clinching the team win for the Gamecocks who went ahead 4-0.  South Carolina began the day with its second-straight doubles point win and improves to 12-0 this season when winning the doubles point.

5th-ranked Paul Jubb defeated Vanderbilt’s No. 89 Cameron Klinger for the second time this season and now owns a 12-1 record in dual matches at the Gamecocks’ No. 1 singles spot.

DOUBLES
South Carolina jumped ahead early on all three doubles courts before a Vanderbilt made a late a push at the No. 1 and No. 2 pairs.  The No. 3 pair of Rodrigues and Beau Pelletier broke twice to go up 3-0.  Pelletier and Rodrigues gave one back before breaking again to go up 5-3 followed by a hold to win the match 6-3.

The No. 2 pair of Joseph Brailovksy and Jake Beasley overcame a 3-5 deficit, breaking serve with an aggressive four points to go up 6-5.  Brailovksy later came forward with a backhand at the net to give the tandem a 7-5 win on court two, giving Carolina its second-straight doubles point.

Doubles Results:
1. No. 80 Cameron Klinger/Billy Rowe (VANDY) def. No. 63 Paul Jubb/Raphael Lambling (SC), 7-5
2. Joseph Brailovsky/Jake Beasley (SC) def. Maxwell Freeman/Macsen Sisam (VANDY), 7-5
3. Beau Pelletier/Daniel Rodrigues (SC) def. George Harwell/Christiaan Worst (VANDY), 6-3
Order of finish: 3,1,2

SINGLES
True freshman Raphael Lambling was the first off of the singles courts, putting the Gamecocks ahead 2-0 with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Mcsen Sisam. 

Beau Pelletier won back-to-back deuce points to break once at 5-3, and then again to win the first set 6-3.  Pelletier came from behind 3-4 in the second, winning three-straight games to take the match with a 6-4 second set win.

Following a 6-3 win in his opening set, No. 93 Daniel Rodrigues overcame a 5-1 deficit in the second set to defeat George Harwell 6-3, 7-5.  The win clinched the team win for Carolina, which went ahead 4-0.

Fifth-ranked Jubb split the first two sets in his rematch with Cameron Klinger (Jubb defeated Klinger in three-sets at the ITA All-American Championships back in October) and fell behind a break early in tightly contested third set.  Jubb won back-to-back deuce points to even the match at 4-4 and carried the momentum the rest of the way with a 6-4 third-set win.

Thomas Brown improved to 2-0 in SEC matches by grinding out an 11-9 win in a third-set tiebreak to defeat Marcus Ferreira on court six.  

Singles Results
1. No. 5 Paul Jubb (SC) def. No. 89 Cameron Klinger (VANDY), 6-3, 0-6, 6-4
2. No. 93 Daniel Rodrigues (SC) def. George Harwell (VANDY), 6-3, 7-5
3. Raphael Lambling (SC) def. Macsen Sisam (VANDY), 6-1, 6-1
4. Billy Rowe (VANDY) def. Joseph Brailovsky (SC), 6-3, 7-6 (4)
5. Beau Pelletier (SC) def. Panu Virtanen (VANDY), 6-3, 6-4
6. Thomas Brown (SC) def. Marcus Ferreira (VANDY), 6-3, 4-6, 1-0 (9)
Order of finish: 3,5,2*,4,1,6

UP NEXT
South Carolina gets set to host its final two home matches of the season next week beginning with Texas A&M on Friday at 5 p.m. ET, followed by LSU on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. ET.

For men’s tennis updates, continue to check back with GamecocksOnline.com or follow the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).