Gamecocks Head to New York for Top-20 Matchup
NEW YORK, N.Y. – The No. 18 South Carolina men’s tennis team (2-0, 0-0 SEC) faces its first ranked team of the season on Sunday, Jan. 18 as the Gamecocks head up to New York City to face No. 10 Columbia (1-0, 0-0 IVY) at 12:00 p.m.
GAMECOCK NOTABLES
- The Gamecocks opened the 2026 spring slate with two wins over North Florida and The Citadel last weekend, defeating the Ospreys 6-1 and sweeping the Bulldogs 7-0.
- All Gamecocks on the roster picked up at least one win in the dual season opener. Three players are now 2-0 in singles play while one pair is 2-0 for dual matches this season.
- No. 31 Sean Daryabeigi and Max Stenzer went 2-0 as a pair in 6-2 showings against both opponents. Paul Barbier Gazeu, Atakan Karahan and Charlie Swaine all went undefeated through two matches in singles. Karahan swept Reece Beckendorf from The Citadel 6-0, 6-0, as the only Gamecock in the opener to shutout his opponent in both sets.
- South Carolina was ranked No. 18 in the first ITA Poll of the year, released last week. In the SEC Preseason Poll, the team finished in the top half of the league at eighth for the second consecutive season.
- Four Gamecocks currently have tabs in the ITA singles and doubles rankings. Sophomore Gazeu leads the team in the singles standings at No. 55 followed by da Silva who sits at No. 80 and Stenzer at No. 104.
- Two pairs represent the Garnet & Black in ITA doubles rankings; Daryabeigi is ranked 31st with Stenzer and 88th with da Silva.
SCOUTING THE LIONS
Columbia currently ranks No. 10 with three lions in the singles rankings. Two-time national champion Michael Zeng headlines the NCAA at No. 1 followed by Nicolas Kotzen at No. 52 and Sachin Palta at No. 65. In doubles the pair of Thanaphat Boosarawongse and Aditya Govila rank No. 37. Columbia opened its dual match season with Bucknell on Friday, sweeping the Bisons 7-0. The Lions went 91-64 in singles and 64-49 in doubles during the fall slate of the 2025-26 schedule. In last season’s dual match campaign, Columbia went 20-5 and earned the program’s 18th Ivy League Championship title before ending the season in the NCAA quarterfinals. The Lions finished with a top 10 ranking, sitting at No. 8.
SERIES HISTORY
South Carolina and Columbia are split in the series history between the two programs with the Gamecocks grabbing a 7-1 win in 1987. The last time the two faced each other the Lions defeated the Gamecocks 4-2 at the ITA Indoor Nationals in 2020.
FOLLOW ALONG
Live scoring will be available on Side Arm. Click here for live streaming. Fans can also follow along through in-match updates on X @GamecockMTennis.
For the latest South Carolina men’s tennis information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).
