South Carolina Falls to No. 2 Tennessee
Seattle, Wash. – No. 13 South Carolina men’s tennis fell to No. 2 Tennessee 4-2 in the quarterfinals of the ITA Indoor National Championships. The Gamecocks dropped the doubles point but picked up two ranked singles wins to get on the board.
In doubles, the Volunteers were dominant, earning their first win on Court 2, 6-1 over No. 55 Jake Beasley and Toby Samuel. Tennessee clinched the doubles point on Court 3 with a 6-3 win, while the closely contested match on Court 1 was left unfinished.
In sinlges, Beasley was the first to clear his court. He took down No. 78 Mark Wallner in straight sets. Beasley led most of the first set, but Wallner was always just behind with no more than two games ever separating the two. Wallner pushed his way back to tie the match at 6 all and force a tieberak.
Beasley was dominant in the tiebreak, winning it 7-2 to take the first set. In the second set, Beasley shut down Wallner, not allowing him a single game and winning the set 6-0 for his first ranked singles win of the year.
Beside him on Court 5, James Story picked up a ranked win of his own over No 114. The sophomore dropped his first set 6-4 and had a closely contested second set. He pushed his second set to a tiebreak that he dominated 7-2 to force a third and keep the match going. In the third, Story was evenly matched through the first half, but he pulled away with two games in a row to win the match with a 6-3 final set.
South Carolina will face off against either Kentucky or Baylor in the consolation draw on Sunday. The match will be at 9:30pm EST/6:30pm PST at the Seattle Tennis Center.
For all the latest South Carolina men’s tennis information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).
(2) Tennessee 4, (13) South Carolina 2
Doubles (order of finish: 2, 3)
1. Hudd/Mitsui (UT) led (7) Rodrigues/Thomson (SC) 5-4, (unfinished)
2. Walton/Harper (UT) def. (53) Beasley/Samuel (SC) 6-1
3. Wallner/Monday (UT) def. Story/Lambling (SC) 6-3
Singles (order of finish: 6, 2, 5, 4, 3)
1. (21) Walton (UT) led (14) Rodrigues (SC) 6-7(2), 6-3, 4-1 (unfinished)
2. (10) Monday (UT) def. Samuel (SC) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1
3. (100) Hudd (UT) def. (97) Thomson (SC) 5-7, 6-4, 6-4
4. (122) Diaz (UT) def. Lambling (SC) 6-7(5), 6-0, 6-4
5. Story (SC) def. (114) Mitsui (UT), 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-3
6. Beasley (SC) def. (78) Wallner (UT) 7-6(2), 6-0
