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Gamecocks to Compete in Gator Fall Invite
Men's Tennis  . 

Gamecocks to Compete in Gator Fall Invite

 
COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina men’s tennis opens its fall season this weekend at the Gator Fall Invite in Gainesville, Fla. The tournament will begin Fri., Sept. 10, and will run through Sun., Sept. 12. Live streaming for the Gamecocks final day of play will be available on FloridaGators.com
 
South Carolina will be facing NC State on Friday, UCF on Saturday, and SEC rival Florida on Sunday. Matches will begin each day at 10 a.m. with doubles, followed immediately by singles. Doubles will be played as eight-game pro sets and singles will be best out of three sets.
 
Gamecock Notables

  • The Gamecocks return seven players from last year’s squad that made it to the NCAA tournament’s round of 16 and finished with a final ranking of No. 13.
  • Five out of eight players on the team were ranked in the top 60 of the ITA preseason singles rankings – No. 3 Daniel Rodrigues, No. 16 Connor Thomson, No. 39 Raphael Lambling, No. 49 Toby Samuel, No. 56 James Story
  • Doubles pair Daniel Rodrigues and Connor Thomson were ranked No. 4 in the preseason rankings and had a record of 22-13 last season.
  • Sophomore James Story will take to the courts for the first time as a Gamecock after helping his previous team to the second round of the NCAA tournament last season. 

Tournament Field Notables

  • The NC State Wolfpack enters the tournament with one ranked singles player, one ranked doubles pair, and the No. 3 ranked newcomer. The Pack has also brought in the No. 1 recruiting class in the country for 2021 after finishing last season as the first team out of the top 25 in the final rankings.
  • Three ranked singles players from UCF will be present at the tournament. The Knights also bring in the No. 3 ranked doubles pair, who finished with a 10-2 record last season.
  • Florida is coming off a National Championship season and return Sam Riffice, the reigning Singles National Champion who defeated Rodigues for the title last season. The Gators have eight singles players who achieved preseason rankings, including two of the top five players, as well as three doubles pairs who are in the top 60.

For all the latest South Carolina men’s tennis information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).
 

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