Men's Tennis . April 17, 2025

Gamecocks Begin SEC Championship Friday Evening

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The No. 13 South Carolina men’s tennis team begins post season play on Fri., April 18 at 6:00 p.m. for the 2025 SEC Championship. The Gamecocks are the third seed in this tournament which earned them a spot in the quarterfinals, slated to face the winner of sixth seeded Florida and 11^th seeded Arkansas.

South Carolina is hosting this year’s tournament at the Carolina Tennis Center. Please note that a clear bag policy is in effect. For more information on the event, head to the championship webpage.

Gamecock Notables

Records: 17-6 (overall), 11-3 (SEC), 12-1 (home), 4-4 (away)
South Carolina closed out the regular season at home this past weekend with a 4-1 win over Florida, finishing SEC play with an 11-3 record—the most regular season conference victories in program history. Additionally, six of the wins were upsets.
The Garnet & Black’s 11-3 mark tied them for second place in the final SEC standings, matching their highest-ever conference finish, previously achieved in 2022. The Gamecocks were predicted to finish eighth in the preseason poll.

The Gamecocks finished the regular season ranked No. 13 in the latest edition of the ITA rankings. Connor Thomson earned his highest ranking of the season in singles, sitting at No. 20 in the nation. Sean Daryabeigi is No. 119 as the one other Gamecock in the singles rankings. Thomson and Lucas da Silva moved up one spot in the doubles standings, earning a spot at No. 3 as the second highest duo in the SEC. Jelani Sarr and Atakan Karahan were tabbed at No. 50.
The majority of the Gamecocks’ singles lineup has strong records. Thomson leads the team in conference play with a 9-1 record, going 11-3 this dual match season from the No. 1 (4-3), 2 (2-0) and 3 (5-0) positions. Daryabeigi is 9-3 in SEC matches with a 24-10 overall record. He is 15-5 in dual matches from the No. 2 (2-0), 3 (7-2) and 4 (6-3) positions. Karahan is 12-5 in dual matches, and 7-3 in conference play from primarily the No. 4 and 5 positions. Casey Hoole and da Silva are 5-4 and 5-5 in SEC matches, respectively.
The Gamecocks have depth in doubles as Thomson and da Silva lead with a 8-3 SEC record from the No. 1 position. The two won six consecutive matches at the start of conference play. Karahan and Sarr follow closely with an 8-4 record at No. 2. Daryabeigi and Hoole are 6-2 from the No. 3 position.
South Carolina has picked up four SEC weekly honors throughout the season. Thomson has been named SEC Player of the Week twice while Hoole earned the honor once. Karahan was tabbed SEC Freshman of the week earlier this month.

Scouting the Gators

Records: 13-10 (overall), 8-6 (SEC), 9-2 (home), 3-7 (away)
Florida has three ranked singles players. Adhithya Ganesan is No. 47 followed by Jeremy Jin (No. 70) and Magnus Johnson (No. 124). Two pairs of Gators are ranked in doubles, Henry Jefferson and Tanapatt Nirundorn (No. 12) and Nirundorn and Ganesan (No. 82).
The No. 1 singles player, Ganesan, is 5-3 in conference play. JanMagnus Johnson has the most amount of SEC wins in singles, with a 7-4 record.

Scouting the Razorbacks

Records: 18-13 (overall), 4-10 (SEC), 10-4 (home), 5-8 (away)
Arkansas has one ranked singles player, Lukas Palovic (No. 56), and one ranked doubles pair, Connor Smillie & Jakub Vrba (No. 24).
Palovic has a 6-3 SEC record, primarily from the No. 2 position. He is 15-6 overall. Smillie and Vrba are 6-6 in conference play.

Series History