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Men’s Tennis Hosts Three Matches This Weekend
Men's Tennis  . 

Men’s Tennis Hosts Three Matches This Weekend

Columbia, S.C. – No. 16 South Carolina men’s tennis returns home this weekend for three matches at the Carolina Tennis Center. The Gamecocks will host No. 19 Mississippi State on Friday and will play a doubleheader with No. 51 Ole Miss and Furman on Sunday.

Friday’s match against Mississippi State will begin at 5:00 p.m. with Sunday’s matches at 11:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Match location will be dependent upon weather with the potential to move indoors to the Carolina Indoor Tennis Center.

Admission to all three matches will be free with gates opening one hour prior to first serve. As a reminder to fans, pets are not permitted at the Carolina Tennis Center.

For fans not in attendance, live streaming for all three matches will be available here. Live stats against Mississippi State, Ole Miss, and Furman are available at each of the provided links. Both SEC matches will be aired on ESPN+ as part of the SEC Crosscourt Cast.

Gamecock Notables

  • South Carolina is ranked No. 16 in the latest ITA team rankings. They are 8-8 overall and 2-3 in conference play this season.
  • There are two Gamecocks in the ITA singles rankings – No. 21 Toby Samuel and No. 105 Casey Hoole.
  • Samuel jumped up to a season-high No. 21 this week thanks to his ongoing six-match win streak that features three ranked wins. Samuel has not dropped a single set since falling to No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri of Texas at the ITA Indoor Championships in New York.
  • Hoole is 19-17 this season and 7-8 in dual matches. He has six wins this season from the No. 2 spot in the lineup and one win from the No. 1 position.
  • Samuel and Hoole are also ranked together in the ITA doubles rankings at No. 19. The duo is 8-3 this season with three ranked wins including two in the top-15. They have been ranked as high as No. 9 this season.

Scouting Mississippi State

  • Mississippi State is ranked No. 19 and is 11-5 this season. They have been ranked as high as No. 12 in the country this season.
  • The Bulldogs have two players in the ITA singles rankings – No. 39 Petar Jovanovic and No. 118 Nemanja Malesevic.
  • Jovanovic is 21-11 overall this season with an 8-7 mark in dual play. He is 3-4 from the No. 1 position and 5-3 from No. 2.
  • Malesevic is 9-7 overall and and 9-4 in dual play. He is 6-3 from the top of the lineup and 3-1 from the No. 2 position.
  • Jovanovic is also in the doubles rankings at No. 37 with Benito Sanchez Martinez. The duo is 15-8 overall and 7-4 in dual play. They are 3-1 in SEC action.

Scouting Ole Miss

  • The Rebels are 9-7 overall and 2-3 in conference play. They are 2-2 when playing on the road this season.
  • The lone Rebel in the ITA singles rankings is No. 62 Nikola Slavic. Slavic is 17-3 and 12-1 in dual action, all from the top of the lineup. He is a perfect 4-0 in SEC play.
  • In the doubles rankings, Slavic comes in at No. 65 with Lukas Engelhardt. The duo is 20-8 overall and 10-3 in dual play with a 1-3 record against SEC opponents.

Scouting Furman

  • Furman is 7-9 overall this season and 2-6 when playing on the road. They enter this weekend’s contest on a two-match losing streak with losses at UAB and at Samford.
  • Elijak Poritzky leads the team from the top of the singles lineup where he is 4-4. The junior has won each of his last four completed matches with a ranked win over then-No. 99 Benjamin Kittay of North Carolina.

Series History vs. Mississippi State

  • Mississippi State leads the all-time series against South Carolina 24-12.
  • The two teams first faced on March 3, 1992 in Starkville with Mississippi State winning the match 5-2. They went on to win the first nine matches of the series.
  • The Gamecocks won the last meeting in Columbia 5-2 in 2022 but the Bulldogs won the most recent meeting in Starkville by the same margin.
  • Mississippi State has won 12 of the last 14 matches.

Series History vs. Ole Miss

  • Ole Miss leads the all-time series against South Carolina 26-12. ‘The two teams first faced on March 20, 1975 at Ole Miss with South Carolina winning the match 8-1. The Gamecocks won five of the first six meetings.
  • South Carolina has won six of the last seven meetings with the Rebels last win in 2018 during the SEC Championships.
  • Ole Miss’s last win in Columbia was in 2015.

Series History vs. Furman

  • South Carolina leads the all-time series versus Furman 33-5.
  • The two teams first faced on April 13, 1951 with the Gamecocks winning 6-3,
  • This will be the first meeting between South Carolina and Furman since January of 2015, a match that the Gamecocks won 5-2.
  • South Carolina has won each of the last 23 meetings.

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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