Gamecocks Travel for Pair of SEC Matches in Alabama
Carolina will play Auburn on Friday night followed by a Sunday match at Alabama.
COLUMBIA, S.C.— The 18th-ranked South Carolina men’s tennis (14-6, 4-5 SEC) team will begin a three-match road stretch to close out the SEC season with a weekend trip to face Auburn (12-15, 0-9 SEC) and No. 26 Alabama (13-8, 3-6 SEC).
The Gamecocks will face Auburn on Friday at 4 p.m. ET, before traveling to take on Alabama on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. ET. Carolina is coming off of a weekend split last week in its final two home matches of the season, winning 5-2 over No. 32 LSU after a 5-2 loss to seventh-ranked Texas A&M.
The Gamecocks’ No. 1 singles player, sixth-ranked Paul Jubb, owns the highest career win percentage in all dual-matches (.843), SEC matches (.824) and against ranked opponents (.626). The junior from Hull, England put up another 2-0 weekend in singles last weekend, defeating No. 77 Juan Carlos Aguilar (Texas A&M) and Rafael Wagner (LSU) in straight sets.
Carolina is 2-3 so far this season in road matches this season and won both of its previous matches at Alabama and Auburn, respectively. Carolina has won two straight over the Crimson Tide with a 4-3 win in its last visit to Tuscaloosa. The Gamecocks have won six of the last seven over Auburn with a 5-2 road win over the Tigers last year.
Gamecock Notables:
– Sixth-ranked Paul Jubb (26-3) owns the highest career dual-match win percentage (.843), career SEC win percentage (.824), and the highest win percentage against ranked opponents (.626) in the program’s history.
– Jubb went 2-0 last weekend and with two weeks still remaining in the conference season, he already ranks second in Carolina history in wins over ranked opponents (14) and is fifth over his career in ranked wins (21). Jubb has posted five ranked wins on his current six-match winning streak.
– True freshman Daniel Rodrigues (28-8) is just three wins shy of cracking the top-20 for single season wins in program history. Rodrigues leads the Gamecocks with 28 singles wins so far this season.
– Freshman Raphael Lambling (23-10) is just four wins shy of cracking the top-10 for most wins by a freshman in Carolina history.
– Joseph Brailovksy (24-12) is just three wins shy of breaking into the top-10 for most wins by a freshman in program history.
– Thomas Brown has gone 3-1 in SEC play since returning to the Gamecocks’ lineup at the No. 6 spot.
– South Carolina is a perfect 13-0 when winning the doubles point so far this season.
Scouting the Tigers:
– Auburn (12-15) is still looking for its first SEC win of the season, having gone 0-9 to begin conference play.
– The Tigers have dropped three-straight with losses to No. 21 Alabama, No. 15 Tennessee and No. 28 Georgia.
– Auburn is 11-5 so far this season in home matches at the Yarbrough Tennis Center.
– Tim Dollman leads the Tigers with a 9-8 singles record this season, but is just 6-12 in dual-matches.
Scouting the Crimson Tide:
– 26th-ranked Alabama (13-8) is off to a 3-6 start to conference play heading into the final two weeks of the SEC season.
– The Crimson Tide has dropped four of its last five with an 0-2 weekend last week after losses at 28th-ranked Georgia and No. 15 Tennessee, respectively.
– Mazen Osama, the Crimson Tide’s lone ranked singles player at No. 48 in the latest Top-125, is 14-11 on the season with an 11-9 record at No. 1 singles through dual-match play.
– Alabama reached as high as No. 16 in the ITA Team Rankings this spring after jumping out to an 11-2 start to the season.
Rankings Roundup:
South Carolina (18)
Singles
- No. 6 Paul Jubb
- No. 113 Daniel Rodrigues
Doubles
- No. 72 Paul Jubb/Raphael Lambling
Auburn (NR)
Doubles
- No. 62 Brandon Laubser/Tad Maclean
Alabama (26)
Singles
- No. 48 Mazen Osama
Doubles
- No. 28 Mazen Osama/Patrick Kaukovalta
* team rank in ()
Up Next for the Gamecocks:
South Carolina will wrap up conference play in its final tune-up for the postseason at second-ranked Florida on Sun., April 14, at 12 p.m. ET.
For men’s tennis updates, continue to check back with GamecocksOnline.com or follow the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).
