Men’s Tennis Starts Indoor Nationals Against Familiar Foe

New York, N.Y. – No. 4 South Carolina men’s tennis will begin competition at the ITA Men’s Team Indoor Championships on Fri., Feb. 16 at noon at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York, N.Y.

The Gamecocks are the No. 7 seed at the event and will take on No. 10 seeded Texas A&M. The Aggies are currently ranked No. 12 in the ITA Coaches Poll released Feb. 7.

South Carolina earned its spot at the event after defeating Clemson and LSU during the ITA Kickoff Weekend. This is the Gamecocks fourth appearance at the Indoor Championships in the last five seasons. In 2022, the team advanced to the quarterfinals which was the furthest they had been since 1999.

The SEC showdown will be live streamed here with live scores available here. The match will also be aired as part of the Cracked Racquets CrossCourt Coverage here.

Gamecock Notables

• The Gamecocks are 3-3 on the season after dropping their three most recent matches. The team began the season with a road win over then-No. 1 Virginia and tallied two wins during the ITA Kickoff Weekend to secure their spot at the Indoor National Championships.
• The team began the season ranked at No. 5 in the ITA Coaches Polls and have been ranked as high as No. 2 this season.
• Senior Toby Samuel looks to repeat his success from last year’s Indoor Championships where he went a perfect 3-0 in both doubles and singles at the event – all over ranked opponents. He is currently ranked No. 50 in the ITA singles ranking and has two ranked singles wins so far this season.
• Junior Casey Hoole has been a strong force at the No. 2 position for the Gamecocks this season. He is 16-11 overall and 4-2 in dual play.
• Senior James Story returned to the singles lineup last week after his recovery from off-season surgery. He jumped in at No. 3 in the lineup and is 1-1 so far in singles play with his loss coming at the hands of the nation’s No. 7 player.
• South Carolina’s only other player in the singles rankings is freshman Jelani Sarr who is 14-10 overall this season. He has a 5-4 record against ranked opponents with his best career win coming over then-No. 17 Kenta Miyoshi of Illinois.
• The Gamecocks have had struggles in dual doubles this season but recently became the first team to take the doubles point off of top-ranked Ohio State.

Scouting the Aggies

• Texas A&M is a perfect 6-0 this season and is currently ranked No. 12 in the country. The team began the season ranked No. 19 and has climbed in the rankings after defeating then-No. 19 Georgia on the road to clinch their spot at the ITA Indoor Championships.
• The Aggies have three players in the ITA singles rankings – No. 57 Raphael Perot, No. 103 Giulio Perego, and No. 114 JC Roddick.
• Perot has handled duties at the No. 1 position for Texas A&M where he is 5-1 this season.
• Roddick has been a consistent No. 2 for the season, going 4-1 in dual play and 15-4 overall this season.
• The Aggies have also had success in doubles this season with the team 10-5 in dual doubles matches so far. Perego and Florida transfer Togan Tokac have held down the top of the lineup where they are 3-2 and 10-4 together overall.

Series History

• Texas A&M leads the all-time series against South Carolina 14-6 but the Gamecocks have won two of the last three meetings.
• The two teams first faced in 1984 with the Aggies winning 6-3. South Carolina went on to win the next three matchups from 1986-1991.
• South Carolina and Texas A&M faced twice in 2023 with split results. During the SEC regular season, South Carolina came out on top 4-1 in College Station and during the SEC Tournament the Aggies won 4-2 at a neutral site.
• Since joining the SEC in 2012, Texas A&M is 12-3 against South Carolina.

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