No. 20 Gamecocks Head to ITA Kickoff Weekend
COLUMBIA, S.C. – No. 20 South Carolina men’s tennis heads to Chapel Hill, N.C., to compete in ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Gamecocks start the weekend by taking on No. 23 Duke on Sun., Jan. 24, at 10 a.m. The winner of the matchup will face the winner of host No. 2 North Carolina vs. Northwestern Monday at 2 p.m. for the right to advance to the ITA Indoor National Championships in Champaign, Ill., Feb. 12-14. The losers will compete in a consolation match Monday morning.
The Gamecocks enter the event after opening their dual-match season with a 4-3 win at Charlotte. Daniel Rodrigues, Jake Beasley and Phillip Jordan scored the singles victories that delivered the 11th-straight season-opening win under head coach Josh Goffi.
South Carolina has participated in ITA Kickoff Weekend in three of the last four seasons and advanced to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in 2020 after defeating then-No. 22 Oklahoma and then-No. 19 Georgia in Starkville, Miss. It was the Gamecocks’ 10th appearance in the event and the first with Goffi at the helm.
One of the few teams to play a fall schedule, three Gamecocks earned singles rankings with Rodrigues leading the way at No. 32. He is currently 9-2 on the season with a pair of ranked wins to his credit already this spring. He is also part of the Gamecocks’ top-ranked doubles team and he and Connor Thomson come in at No. 44. They are 8-4 on the season with a 2-1 record against ranked foes this spring.
Scouting Duke
No. 2 Duke enters the weekend after competing in the ACC Challenge. In the event, it went 14-2 in singles and 7-6 in doubles. The Blue Devils went 13-2 in the shortened 2020 season under head coach Ramsey Smith who is in his 12th season. Their two losses were both against ranked opponents, No. 17 Tennessee and No. 14 Wake Forest. South Carolina and Duke last played each other on April 11, 2001.
Scouting Northwestern
Northwestern will play its first matches of the season this weekend. The Wildcats went 10-5 in their shortened 2020 season. They were 0-1 in conference play losing to No. 47 Illinois. Head coach Arvid Swan leads the Wildcats for his 14th season. The Gamecocks won 6-3 the last time they faced Northwestern, which was on Feb. 22, 1985. South Carolina is 4-0 against Northwestern overall.
Scouting North Carolina
No. 2 North Carolina will play its first dual matches of the season this weekend. It also played in last weekend’s ACC challenge, wrapping up the weekend 6-6 in singles and 7-2 in doubles. In the shortened 2020 season, the Tar Heels went 12-1 overall and 2-0 in ACC play. North Carolina’s only loss was to USC in the championship match of the ITA National Indoor Championship.
Rankings Roundup
No. 20 South Carolina
Singles
No. 32 Daniel Rodrigues
No. 81 Raphael Lambling
No. 118 Connor Thomson
Doubles
No. 44 Daniel Rodrigues/Connor Thomson
No. 59 Raphael Lambling/Phillip Jordan
No. 23 Duke
Doubles
No. 46 Luca Keist/Michael Heller
No. 55 Sean Sculley/Garrett Johns
No. 2 North Carolina
Singles
No. 2 William Blumberg
No. 41 Benjamin Sigouin
No. 55 Rinky Hijikata
No. 100 Joshua Peck
Doubles
No. 5 Mack Kiger/Simon Soendergaard
No. 6 William Blumberg/Brian Cernoch
Northwestern
Singles
No. 58 Dominik Stary
No. 88 Steven Forman
Doubles
No. 57 Simen Bratholm/Nick Brookes
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