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Rain Ends Gamecock Fall SEC Shootout Early
Men's Tennis  . 

Rain Ends Gamecock Fall SEC Shootout Early

Doubles team of Raphael Lambling and Phillip Jordan named doubles champion.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The weather won the final day of the Gamecock Fall SEC Shootout as only a few matches finished before the rain moved back into the area. South Carolina sophomore Connor Thomson was the lone Gamecock finisher. In a tournament that welcomed three SEC rivals that finished last season ranked in the top 11, the Gamecocks posted five doubles wins and six singles victories.
 
With the start of Sunday’s play delayed by overnight rain, the Gamecocks, Georgia, Florida and Texas A&M took the courts around noon to play singles. Ninety minutes later, the weather moved in again, eventually raining out the rest of the event.
 
South Carolina was dominant early in their matches against Georgia, though. While a few Gamecocks fell behind early, it didn’t take them long to rally back and all six won their first sets with only one Bulldog winning more than three games in the opening set.
 
Thomson was the most efficient on the court. Buoyed by his marathon win Saturday, the sophomore powered his way past Blake Croyder 6-2, 6-0 to improve to 3-0 on the season.

While not doubles matches were played on Sunday, the Gamecocks’ top team of Raphael Lambling and Phillip Jordan were named the champion after winning their two matches at the top of the lineup.
 
 
Quotable Josh Goffi
“We had the best teams in the SEC arguably – year-in and year-out Georgia, Florida and Texas A&M are always contending for titles. It was an amazing situation for us to host them at our own facility for the weekend. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to finish on Day 3, but I think we got better throughout the weekend. Starting with Florida, it was pretty good, but it was definitely a great test for us and let our guys know where we’re at and that we can play at that level consistently. We brought it against A&M the next day, seven three-setters, so not quite over the hump, but still very competitive and our guys started to believe a little bit. Then we got to see a Georgia team that we’re familiar with – last season we got a good match in with them and earlier this year as well, played some of their guys a few weeks ago. Guys were getting over the hump today, which was nice to see, a lot of first sets, so it was a shame we never got to finish. Georgia was starting to make a push in a few of those courts, but all-in-all our guys realize that they can be in that top tier, in that top arena.”
 
 
Gamecock Notables

  • In the second tournament of the season, the Gamecocks continued to shine on the doubles courts, going 5-3 on the weekend. Raphael Lambling and Phillip Jordan won both their matches at the top of the lineup to remain undefeated on the season at 5-0.
  • Junior Daniel Rodrigues is 4-1 on the season after splitting his two singles matches this weekend. He opened the tournament win a three-set victory over Florida’s Sam Riffice, who finished the 2019-20 season ranked No. 5 in the country.
  • Sophomore Connor Thomson came back from his day-one defeat to post a pair of convincing wins and get his season record to 3-3. On Saturday he outlasted Texas A&M’s Juan Carlos Aguilar by winning tiebreaks in the first and third sets before Sunday’s dominant showing.
  • Junior Jake Beasley remained undefeated this season with a pair of wins this weekend.

 
 
The Gamecocks will close out their fall schedule with a trip to Knoxville for the Tennessee Invitational.
 
For all the latest South Carolina men’s tennis information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).
 
 
 
Gamecock Day 3 Singles Results
Daniel Rodrigues (SC) led Trent Bryde (GA) 6-3, 2-1 suspended
Raphael Lambling (SC) led Philip Henning (GA) 6-3, 1-2 suspended
Connor Thomson (SC) def. Blake Croyder (GA) 6-2, 6-0
Thomas Brown (SC) led Billy Rowe (GA) 6-4, 2-0 suspended
Phillip Jordan (SC) led Baptiste Anselmo (GA) 6-3, 2-2 suspended
Jake Beasley (SC) led Erik Grevelius (GA) 6-3, 3-3 suspended