Gamecocks Narrowly Fall to Aggies
Columbia, S.C. – No. 16 South Carolina men’s tennis narrowly fell to No. 12 Texas A&M 3-4 indoors on Sunday afternoon. The Aggies took the doubles point and the two teams each claimed three singles wins in the match.
In doubles, Texas A&M claimed the point with wins at the No. 2 and 3 positions. At the top of the lineup, No. 9 Casey Hoole and Toby Samuel were up 5-4 when play was suspended.
No. 71 Samuel got right to work in singles play, breezing past No. 94 JC Roddick 6-3, 6-1 to even the match at 1-1. On the two adjacent courts, No. 120 Hoole and James Story both claimed their respective first sets but the Aggies claimed two wins at the bottom of the lineup to take the lead back 3-1.
Hoole was next to claim a point for his team, defeating No. 87 Togan Tokac in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. The Gamecocks couldn’t claim a win in their other ongoing three-setter though with Story falling 6-4, 3-6, 4-6 to No. 86 Giulio Perego for Texas A&M to clinch the match at 4-2.
The decision was made to play out the last remining match where No. 120 Jelani Sarr was in one of the closest matches the Carolina Indoor Tennis Center has ever seen with Tiago Pires at the No. 4 position.
In the first set, the two players went to a lengthy tiebreaker that the Aggie came out on top of 11-9, but the second set also went to a breaker that ended in Sarr’s favor 7-5. With the overall match already clinched by Texas A&M, the final set was played as a ten-point tiebreaker that also went for extra points with Sarr ultimately claiming the win 13-11. At only one point in the match did either player hold a lead that was more than two points.
The men’s tennis team now begins a three-match road trip next with their first stop at Arkansas on March 10 at 1:00 p.m.
For all the latest South Carolina men’s tennis information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).
(12) Texas A&M 4, (16) South Carolina 3
Doubles (order of finish: 2, 3)
- #9 Casey Hoole/Toby Samuel (SC) vs. Giulio Perego/Togan Tokac (TAMU) 5-4, unfinished
- Luke Casper/JC Roddick (TAMU) def. Lucas Andrade da Silva/James Story (SC) 6-2
- Kenner Taylor/Tiago Pires (TAMU) def. Sean Daryabeigi/Jelani Sarr (SC) 6-4
Singles (order of finish: 1, 6, 5, 2, 3, 4)
- #71 Toby Samuel (SC) def. #94 JC Roddick (TAMU) 6-3, 6-1
- #120 Casey Hoole (SC) def. #87 Togan Tokac (TAMU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-2
- #86 Giulio Perego (TAMU) def. James Story (SC) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
- #120 Jelani Sarr (SC) def. Tiago Pires (TAMU) 6-7 (9-11), 7-6 (7-5), 1-0 (13-11)
- Luke Casper (TAMU) def. Lucas Andrade da Silva (SC) 7-5, 6-4
- Brayden Michna (TAMU) def. Sean Daryabeigi (SC) 6-2, 6-3
