Men’s Tennis Faces Two Top-10 Teams on the Road

Columbia, S.C. – South Carolina Men’s Tennis is set to face two top-10 teams on the road this weekend. The No. 7/7 Gamecocks will start the weekend at No. 1/1 Tennessee on Friday at 6 p.m. before stopping in Athens, Ga., to face No. 8/9 Georgia at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
 
Live stats and scoring links for both matches are available on GamecocksOnline.com. Friday’s match will also be broadcast on Cracked Racquets SEC Redzone Coverage.
 
Gamecock Notables

• The Gamecocks are 12-3 on the season, 1-1 in SEC action, with ranked wins over No. 6 Wake Forest, No. 8 Stanford, No. 10 Kentucky, and No. 42 LSU. Their only losses come against No. 2 Tennessee, No. 5 Florida, and No. 23 North Carolina.
• South Carolina has two players ranked in singles – No. 16 Daniel Rodrigues and No. 86 Toby Samuel – and one ranked doubles pair – No. 30 Rodrigues/Connor Thomson.
• No. 16 Rodrigues is 10-2 in singles from the No. 1 position with ranked wins over Nos. 9, 35, 76, 99, and 109.
• Thomson is 11-2 in singles with a 9-2 record from the No. 3 position. He holds ranked wins over Nos. 38, 51, and 74.
• No. 30 doubles pair Rodrigues and Thomson are 9-1 from the No. 1 position. They hold ranked wins over Nos. 9, 37, and 45.

 
Scouting the Volunteers

• The Volunteers are 14-2 on the season and 2-0 in conference play. They hold ranked wins over No. 3 Baylor, No. 5 TCU, No. 10 Wake Forest, No. 12 Texas A&M, No. 13 South Carolina, No. 14 Ole Miss and No. 24 Mississippi State.

Their only losses come against No. 5 Ohio State in Columbus and No. 4 TCU in the title match of the ITA Indoor National Championship.

• Tennessee defeated South Carolina 4-2 in the second round of the ITA Indoor Championship. The Volunteers won the doubles point and earned singles wins at the Nos. 2, 3, and 4 positions to clinch the match.
• Tennessee leads the series against South Carolina 37-20 all time. The Gamecocks last defeated the Volunteers in Knoxville on April 17, 2017. Tennessee is currently on a five-match win streak over South Carolina.
• The Volunteers boast three ranked singles players – No. 4 Johannus Monday, No. 18 Adam Walton, and No. 55 Emile Hudd – and four ranked doubles pairs – No. 16 Hudd/Shunsuke Mitsui, No. 45 Pat Harper/Walton, No. 70 Harper/Monday, and No. 77 Monday/Mark Wallner.  

 
Scouting the Bulldogs

• Georgia is 10-3 overall and 2-0 in conference play. They hold ranked wins over No. 11 UCF, No. 12 Texas, No. 24 NC State, No. 24 Mississippi State, and No. 53 Vanderbilt. Their only losses come against No. 10 Wake Forest, No. 6 Wake Forest during the ITA Indoor National Championships, and No. 5 Florida also during the Indoor National Championships.
• The Bulldogs are on a four-match win streak and are a perfect 4-0 at home on the season. They will host No. 4 Florida on Friday before hosting No. 7 South Carolina Sunday.
• Georgia leads the all-time series 37-10. South Carolina is currently on a three-match win streak over the Bulldogs and has won four of the last five matches.
• The Bulldogs have four players in the ITA singles rankings – No. 19 Hamish Stewart, No. 31 Tristan McCormick, No. 40 Philip Henning, and No. 84 Trent Bryde. They also have four ranked doubles pairs – No. 27 Bryde/Henning, No. 55 McCormick/Stewart, No. 58 Henning/Stewart and No. 62 Blake Croyder/Erik Grevelius.

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