Men's Tennis . February 24, 2025

Gamecocks Upset No. 35 Auburn, Move to 2-0 in Conference Play

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The South Carolina men’s tennis team defeated its second consecutive ranked opponent, upsetting No. 35 Auburn 6-1 on Monday afternoon, extending the conference record to 2-0 and regular to 8-3. The Gamecocks clinched the doubles point from the No. 1 position following a ranked win over the No. 9 pair in the NCAA and used that momentum to pick up dominant straight set wins in singles on four of the six courts.

South Carolina gained an early edge in doubles play with Jelani Sarr and Atakan Karahan picking up their third win as a duo of the season, earning a 6-4 victory from the No. 2 position. Mirroring Saturday’s match against No. 19 Alabama, it was Connor Thomson and Lucas da Silva who got the Gamecocks on the board first, notching their second consecutive ranked win after taking down No. 9 in a 6-2 showing.

The Gamecocks opened singles action on an upbeat note, picking up first set wins from five players. Freshman Gabe Avram kept his perfect singles record intact, propelling the Gamecocks to a 2-0 lead over the Tigers with a commanding 6-3, 6-1 win. Sean Daryabeigi effortlessly cruised past his opponent, grabbing the Gamecocks’ third point of the match following a 6-3, 6-2 win from the No. 4 position.

The clincher came from court 3 where Thomson earned a 6-3, 6-3 win where he was winning by two or more games for the entirety of both sets. Karahan added the fifth point for South Carolina with a 6-2, 6-4 win. The lone point for Auburn was provided by No. 112 Alex Frusina who topped da Silva 6-3, 6-4. The junior kept Frusina on his toes in both sets, showing resilience with significant comebacks but was unable to follow through.

The match finished on court 1 as Hoole battled No. 124 Will Nolan in a super tiebreak after dropping his second set 1-6. The two exchanged points back and forth for the first half, keeping things even until Hoole used a double fault to his advantage when the score was 5-5 to break away and claim the next three points. Nolan narrowed the deficit to 8-6 but was unable to earn another point as Hoole ultimately walked away with the Gamecocks’ sixth point of the match after winning the set 10-6.

Up next, South Carolina hits the road for the first time in conference play, heading to Kentucky for a 1:00 p.m. match on Sun., March 2.

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

South Carolina 6, (35) Auburn 1

Doubles (order of finish:2,1)

Connor Thomson/Lucas da Silva (SC) def. #9 Billy Blaydes/Will Nolan (AUB) 6-2
Atakan Karahan/Jelani Sarr (SC) def. Alex Frusina/Joey Phillips (AUB) 6-4
Casey Hoole/Sean Daryabeigi (SC) led Thomas Kennedy/Nicholas Heng (AUB) 5-2, unfinished

Singles (order of finish: 6,4,3,5,2,1)