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Men’s Tennis Hits The Road to Take on Georgia Tech, No. 9 Wake Forest
Men's Tennis  . 

Men’s Tennis Hits The Road to Take on Georgia Tech, No. 9 Wake Forest

Columbia, S.C. – No. 8 South Carolina men’s tennis will continue their non-conference schedule on the road, heading to two ACC schools. The Gamecocks will take on Georgia Tech on Fri., Feb. 10 a 5 p.m. before traveling to Winston-Salem, N.C., to take on No. 9 Wake Forrest in a top-10 matchup on Sun., Feb. 12.

South Carolina’s match versus Georgia Tech will take place at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex in Atlanta, Ga. Parking will be available along Folwer Street and in the McCamish Lot E65. Those not in attendance can view live stats here. A live video link will be published 15 minutes prior to the start of the match.

On Sunday, the Gamecocks will face their first top-10 opponent of the season in No. 9 Wake Forest. The match will take place at the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center beginning at 1 p.m. Admission to the match will be free. Live stats can be found here and live streaming will be provided via Playsight.

Gamecock Notables

  • South Carolina is ranked No. 8 in the latest ITA Team Rankings. The Gamecocks began the spring at No. 10.
  • The latest ITA Singles and Doubles Rankings are loaded with Gamecocks, with the top half of the singles lineup in the top-70 and the entire doubles lineup in the top-60.
  • Juniors Toby Samuel and Connor Thomson are ranked No. 11 and 12 respectively in the singles rankings. Samuel is a perfect 5-0 from the No. 1 spot in the lineup with ranked wins over Nos. 48 and 118. Thomson is a perfect 6-0 in dual play, primarily from the No. 2 position. He is 19-2 overall on the season and 5-1 over ranked opponents with two wins over top-10 foes.
  • Also in the singles rankings is graduate Raphael Lambling at No. 67. Lambling returned to the team in January after taking the fall semester off and has since gone 6-1 overall with a win over the nation’s No. 21 player.
  • South Carolina’s entire doubles lineup is ranked and the team has not dropped a single doubles match in dual play this season. The team’s No. 1 pair of Samuel and Thomson are ranked No. 3 and are a perfect 9-0 on the season with the ITA All-American Doubles title under their belt.
  • The Gamecocks’ No. 2 pair of Jake Beasley and James Story is 14-2 overall and a perfect 6-0 in dual action. The duo has clinched three doubles points so far this season and is ranked No. 30 in the nation
  • Lambling and Casey Hoole are also a perfect 6-0 on the season. Primarily playing at the No. 3 position, the pair has clinched two doubles points this season and is ranked No. 59 by the ITA.
  • South Carolina is coming off of a sweep of in-state rival Clemson, defeating the Tigers 7-0 in their first road match of the season.

Scouting the Yellow Jackets

  • Georgia Tech is 6-3 overall on the season and a perfect 6-0 at home. Their only losses of the season come at the ITA Kickoff Weekend where they played at the Stanford Regional, falling 3-4 to host Stanford and 1-4 to Pepperdine in the consolation match. The most recent outing also resulted in a 2-5 loss at Auburn.
  • The Yellow Jackets have two players ranked in the ITA Singles Rankings, No. 63 Andres Martin and No. 86 Keshav Chopra. Martin leads the team from the No. 1 position here he is 7-2 and has a 13-4 overall record. Chopra primarily plays at the No. 3 position where he is 5-2 and 8-6 overall.
  • Tech is also home to a ranked doubles pair in No. 60 Martin and Marcus McDaniel. The pair plays at the No. 1 position where they are 6-1.
  • South Carolina leads the all-time series versus Georgia Tech 34-13-1 and has won the last three matchups. The most recent win of the series was 5-2 in Columbia on Feb. 6, 2022. The Gamecocks’ last win in Atlanta was a 4-1 victory on Feb. 7, 2021. Tech’s last win over South Carolina was 6-1 in 2017.

Scouting the Demon Deacons

  • Wake Forest is 10-0 on the season with all ten wins coming on their home courts. The Demon Deacons notably upset then-No. 6 Tennessee 4-3 and earned another ranked win over then-No. 23 Auburn while hosting the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
  • Wake Forest will host recently-crowned No. 1 Ohio State on Friday before hosting the Gamecocks on Sunday.
  • Despite being ranked as the No. 9 team in the nation, Wake Forest has no players ranked in the latest ITA Singles and Doubles Rankings.
  • Wake is lead by junior Filippo Moroni who is 6-0 from the No. 1 singles position. Senior Melios Efstathiou has also played No. 1 for the Demon Deacons and went 3-0 at that position. He is also 3-0 from the No. 2 position.
  • Moroni and senior Juan Azcona De Lopez have played the most doubles matches for the team at the No. 1 position where they are 3-3. The No. 2 doubles position has been held down by graduate Jurabek Karimov and junior Luciano Tacchi who are 5-0.
  • South Carolina leads the all time series against Wake Forest 29-18 and won the most recent matchup in a 5-2 upset in Columbia on Feb. 10, 2022. Prior to the 2022 match, Wake Forest was on a six-match streak over South Carolina, dating back to 2013.

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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