Men’s Tennis Narrowly Falls to No. 18 Texas A&M

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The No. 13 South Carolina men’s tennis team (10-3, 3-2 SEC) fell to No. 18 Texas A&M 4-3 on Sunday afternoon. The Aggies won the doubles point to take an early lead and the two teams split the singles points, taking three victories apiece. 

The Aggies got on the scoreboard first, taking the doubles point with wins from the first and third spots in the lineup. Both pairs of Charlie Swaine & Atakan Karahan and Lucas da Silva & Paul Barbier Gazeu dropped their matches 6-1.

The Gamecocks put up three first set victories to open singles play. Swaine (6-3), da Silva (6-1) and Gazeu (6-3) each took the lead in those matches. Texas A&M doubled its lead when Alex Frusina defeated Sean Daryabeigi in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.

Swaine grabbed the Gamecocks first win of the day in a 6-3, 6-3 showing to cut back the Aggies lead to 2-1. On court four, Karahan erased a 4-1 deficit to tie up his second set at 5-5 after dropping his first in an attempt to force a third.

With a strong 6-1, 6-4 win from the top of the lineup, da Silva tied up the match at 2-2. Barbier Gazeu followed suit, fighting through a tiebreak in his second set to propel the Gamecocks to a brief 3-2 lead. Karahan battled through a tiebreak as well in his second set but came up short, allowing Texas A&M to tie up the match at 3-3.

It all came down to Max Stenzer, who had bounced back in a dominant 6-1 second set and was battling in the third. The Gamecock managed to keep the match tight throughout the first couple points but once locked up at 3-3 his opponent went on a 3-0 run to top Stenzer 6-3 in the final set and clinch the win for the Aggies.

The Gamecocks continue SEC play at home, facing Mississippi State on Friday, March 13 at 5:00 p.m.

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

No. 18 Texas A&M 4, No. 13 South Carolina 3

DOUBLES (order of finish: 3,1)

1. No. 29 Tongan Tokac/Theo Papamalamis (TAMU) def. Lucas da Silva/Paul Barbier Gazeu (USC) 6-1 
2. No. 24 Sean Daryabeigi/Max Stenzer (USC) vs. Tiago Pires/Markus Molder (TAMU) 5-3 
3. Alex Frusina/Lathan Skrobareck (TAMU) def. Charlie Swaine/Atakan Karahan (USC) 6-1

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

1. No. 16 Lucas da Silva (USC) def. No. 64 Theo Papamalamis (TAMU) 6-1, 6-4
2. No. 86 Alex Frusina (TAMU) def. No. 40 Sean Daryabeigi (USC) 6-3, 6-2 
3. No. 100 Paul Barbier Gazeu (USC) def. Tiago Pires (TAMU) 6-3, 7-6(3)
4. Markus Molder (TAMU) def. Atakan Karahan (USC) 6-3, 7-6(5)
5. Togan Tokac (TAMU) def. Max Stenzer (USC) 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-3
6. Charlie Swaine (USC) def. Lathan Skrobareck (TAMU) 6-3, 6-3