Gamecocks Fall to No. 1 Florida 4-3

COLUMBIA, S.C. – In its final regular-season dual match, No. 13 South Carolina dropped a closely contested 4-3 decision to No. 1 Florida. The Gamecocks fell behind 0-3 early but rallied to win the next three matches on court before the Gators closed out the victory.
 
While the doubles point went to the Gators, the Gamecocks’ No. 36 tandem of Daniel Rodrigues and Connor Thomson scored an upset with a 6-4 win over Florida’s No. 16 team of Johannes Inglidsen and Will Grant.
 
In singles, Florida quickly brought in two more points in the Nos. 6 and 3 spots, respectively, but South Carolina was nowhere near finished. At the top of the lineup, No. 1 Rodrigues faced Florida’s No. 3 Duarte Vale. The two played a close first set, with Rodrigues delivering the 7-5 win with late service break. With the first set under his belt, Rodrigues brought that momentum into his second set, winning 6-2 with an ace to bring in the first point for the Gamecocks and his fourth top-10 victory of the spring.
 
The Gamecocks continued to close in on Court 5 where Jake Beasley sent his match against Ben Shelton of Florida to three sets. After dropping the first set 6-4, Beasley settled in to create an early lead in his second set and won 6-4. He repeated this pattern in the third set, winning 6-4 again with an overhead that Shelton could not answer.
 
With the Gators leading 3-2, the Nos. 2 and 4 matches both headed into their third sets. On Court 2, No. 40 Thomson rallied back from a first-set tie-break loss to No. 17 Sam Riffice to force his third set, while No. 68 Raphael Lambling was looking to rally back from a second-set loss to No. 34 Blaise Bicknell.
 
Playing next to each other, the two matches swung back and forth. Both Gamecocks went down an early break 0-2, but their battle was just beginning as games frequently went to deuce points. Thomson and Lambling each got a service break to continue pushing for the historic victory. While Lambling battled to come back from a second break, Thomson turned his 3-4 deficit into a 6-4 victory that leveled the team scoring at 3-3.
 
The decision came down to the No. 4 match with Lambling and Bicknell, who was still holding onto his break and serving for the match at 5-4. The Gators’ sophomore zeroed in and delivered the victory to keep Florida undefeated in SEC play.
 
The Gamecocks will head to Fayetteville, Ark., to play in the SEC Championships from Mon., April 19, to Sat., April 24. With a pair of make-up matches scheduled for next week, the final SEC standings and tournament seeding will be announced next weekend.
 
For all the latest South Carolina men’s tennis information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).
 
 
(1) Florida def. (13) South Carolina 4-3
Doubles (Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3*)
1. (36) Daniel Rodrigues / Connor Thomson (SC) def. (16) Johannes Inglidsen / Will Grant (UF) 6-4
2. Duarte Vale / Josh Goodger (UF) def. Toby Samuel / Jake Beasley (SC) 6-2
3. Sam Riffice / Ben Shelton  (UF) def. Bruno Oliveira / Phillip Jordan (SC) 6-4   
 
Singles (Order of Finish: 6, 3, 1, 5, 2, 4*)
1. (1) Daniel Rodrigues (SC) def. (3) Duarte Vale (UF) 7-5, 6-2
2. (40) Connor Thomson (SC) def. (17) Sam Riffice (UF) 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4
3. (8) Andy Andrade (UF) def. (70) Toby Samuel (SC) 7-5, 6-3
4. (34) Blaise Bicknell (UF) def. (68) Raphael Lambling (SC) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
5. Jake Beasley (SC) def. Ben Shelton (UF) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
6. (94) Josh Goodger (UF) def. Phillip Jordan (SC) 6-2, 7-5