Gamecocks Earn 6-1 Win Over Ole Miss
Columbia, S.C. – No. 7 South Carolina Men’s Tennis defeated No. 31 Ole Miss 6-1 in a Sunday matinee at Carolina Tennis Center. The Gamecocks picked up two ranked singles wins and an upset over the nation’s No. 2 doubles team en route to the 6-1 victory.
“Any SEC win this year is a huge win,” said head coach Josh Goffi. “(The SEC) is by far the toughest conference in the country by a landslide this year. It’s a tricky situation to be in because you really have to make the home matches count because on the road it is tough. The crowds are loud, and they’re nasty, and they’re in your face. The margins are super thin so take advantage of the ones you can get at home. We were able to get two this weekend, so I’m really proud of the boys. Hope we can get a little momentum here running towards the end of the season and use that momentum going into NC State on Wednesday.”
South Carolina started the match with an exciting doubles win over the No. 2 doubles team in the nation. No. 30 pair Daniel Rodrigues and Connor Thomson faced off against No. 2 pair Finn Reynolds and Lukas Engelhardt at the top of the lineup. The Gamecock duo was dominant, taking the first three games before allowing its opponent on the board. With the score 3-1, the Gamecocks went on another run, taking three more games to secure the upset.
Jake Beasley and Toby Samuel‘s win on Court 2 clinched the doubles point. The Gamecocks jumped out to an early 3-1 lead, but the Rebels evened the match at 3-3. South Carolina wasn’t backing down, going on a three-game run to earn the victory and bring home the doubles point.
Play transitioned to singles where Samuel was the first to clear his court. The sophomore flew through the first set, taking down Reynolds 6-2. He started slower in the second set, going down 0-2 to start. Samuel found himself down 1-3 before getting into a rhythm. He put up five straight games to win the second set 6-3 for the victory.
Thomson was next to clear his court with a straight-set win of his own. The Glasgow, Scotland, native was unstoppable, taking his first set 6-2 and his second set 6-1 to put the Gamecocks up 3-0.
Raphael Lambling clinched the match for South Carolina, breezying through his first set with a 6-1 victory but facing a closer second set. Lambling won the first game, but gave up three in a row to Engelhardt early. Lambling locked in to go on a three-game run for the lead. Englehardt wasn’t giving in, bringing the set back to 5-5. The Gamecock junior won his service game then picked up a break in the next to take the second set win 7-5 for his fourth match-clinching win of the season.
At the top of the lineup, No. 16 Rodrigues was taking on his fourth top-25 matchup in as many matches, battling No. 21 Nikola Slavic of Ole Miss. Rodrigues served first, and the two locked into an even match with no breaks early. It wasn’t until Rodrigues was up 4-3 that he earned a break to make a two-game lead at 5-3. The junior allowed his opponent only one more game before taking the first set 6-4. Rodrigues jumped out to a huge lead in the second set, going up 5-0. Slavic tried to make a comeback, putting up three wins, but Rodrigues had the upper hand, earning another game win to take the second set 6-3.
Beasley earned the Gamecocks’ final win of the day with an upset over No. 104 Jan Soren Hain. The Gamecock had a hard-fought battle for his win. The first set was tight with a tiebreaker needed to decide. Beasley fought through the tiebreak, but ultimately droped the first set 6-7(2). Beasley jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second, but Hain wasn’t giving in, coming back to tie the set at four all and again at five all. Beasley was able to win his service game and earn a break to take the second 7-5. With the overall match already clinched for the Gamecocks, the third set was played as a 10-point tiebreak. The Gamecock junior started out with a 3-1 lead but Hain wouldn’t allow more than a two-point lead throughout play. With the tiebreak leveled at 9-9, Beasley pulled away with a 11-9 win for the upset.
South Carolina’s win marks its third straight over the Rebels and extends its home win streak to 15. The Gamecocks are now 15-4 overall and 4-2 in conference play.
The Gamecocks will be back on the road to face the NC State Wolfpack in a rescheduled non-conference matchup. The match will be Wednesday, March 23, in Raleigh, N.C. First serve will be at 3 p.m. Live scoring and streaming links can be found on GamecocksOnline.com.
For all the latest South Carolina men’s tennis information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).
(7) South Carolina 6, (31) Ole Miss 1
Doubles (order of finish:1, 2)
1. (30) Rodrigues/Thomson (SC) def. (2) Reynolds/Engelhardt (OM) 6-1
2. Beasley/Samuel (SC) def. Hain/Junk (OM) 6-3
3. Story/Lambling (SC) lead Slavic/Lithen (OM) 4-3, unfinished
Singles (order of finish: 2, 3, 4, 1, 6, 5)
1. (16) Rodrigues (SC) def. (21) Slavic (OM) 6-4, 6-3
2. (86) Samuel (SC) def. Reynolds (OM) 6-2, 6-3
3. Thomson (SC) def. Lithen (OM) 6-2, 6-1
4. Lambling (SC) def. Engelhardt (OM) 6-1, 7-5
5. Junk (OM) def. Story (SC) 2-6, 6-3, 6-4
6. Beasley (SC) def. (104) Hain (OM) 6-7(3), 7-5, 1-0(9)
