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Gamecocks Take on Richmond in First Round of NCAA Tournament
Men's Tennis  . 

Gamecocks Take on Richmond in First Round of NCAA Tournament

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The No. 13 South Carolina men’s tennis team (16-8, 8-6 SEC) continues postseason play on Friday, May 1 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Gamecocks are slated for a 2:00 p.m. first serve against Richmond (17-8, 2-2 A10) at the Carolina Outdoor Tennis Center, weather permitting.

Gates will open one hour prior to the first match of the day (10:00 a.m.). Please note that a clear bag policy is in effect. Head to the NCAA Columbia, SC Regional webpage for more information on the event.

First- and second-round competition takes place May 1-2 or May 2-3 and features four teams playing in a single-elimination format. The winner of each site advances to the super-regional competition on May 8 or 9. Each super-regional site will feature two teams playing a single-elimination format. The super-regional winners advance to the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga., where the eight teams compete for the national championship, May 14-17.

Gamecock Notables

  • South Carolina enters NCAA play following the SEC Championships, where it opened with a 4-1 win over Ole Miss before falling 4-0 to Mississippi State in the quarterfinals.
  • The Gamecocks navigated a challenging dual match schedule, facing 13 ranked opponents, including a full slate of ranked teams during SEC competition.
  • The team carried a six-match winning streak into conference play and additionally picked up key upset victories over then-No. 10 Columbia, then-No. 18 Oklahoma, and then-No. 16 Florida.
  • South Carolina boasts six ITA rankings across singles and doubles, led by Lucas da Silva at No. 14 in singles, alongside Sean Daryabeigi (No. 73) and Paul Barbier Gazeu (No. 85).
  • In doubles, da Silva and Barbier Gazeu pace the lineup at No. 6, while Daryabeigi is featured in two ranked pairings: ranked No. 65 with Max Stenzer and No. 63 with da Silva.
  • Two Gamecocks earned SEC postseason recognition, with da Silva landing First Team All-SEC honors and Barbier Gazeu named Second Team All-SEC and to the All-Freshman Team.
  • Barbier Gazeu holds the most singles wins this season with a 24-9 overall record followed by da Silva who is 19-8 and Daryabeigi with a 17-12 standing. Barbier Gazeu and da Silva are 15-6 in doubles while Daryabeigi and Stenzer are 19-9.

NCAA Tournament History

  • The Gamecocks are making their 31st all-time NCAA Tournament appearance and ninth consecutive trip under head coach Josh Goffi, who is leading the team into the tournament for the 12th time in his tenure.
  • South Carolina is 28-30 overall in NCAA Tournament appearances and has a 17-13 first round record.
  • The Garnet & Black are 9-2 in first-round matches under Goffi.
  • The teams’ best finish was a national semifinal appearance in 1989 where the Gamecocks fell to Stanford in Athens, Georgia.
  • South Carolina has advanced to the Round of 16 on 11 occasions, including six times since the tournament adopted the 64-team format. The Gamecocks have reached at least that stage in each of the past four seasons.
  • Last season, the Gamecocks advanced to Super Regionals after defeating Florida State 4-3 in the second round. Their run ended at Stanford where they fell 4-0 to the Cardinal.

Scouting the Spiders

  • Richmond is fresh off winning the 2026 Atlantic 10 title last week, defeating third seeded Dayton 4-3. The Spiders path to the victory included wins over George Mason and top seeded reigning conference champion VCU.
  • The Spiders dropped the doubles point against Dayton but secured the championship title with singles wins from the No. 3 to 6 positions.
  • Richmond enters the NCAA tournament on a ten match win streak.

Series History

  • The Gamecocks are undefeated against the Spiders, holding a 6-0 record in the all-time series record.
  • All six matches have been played at home for South Carolina.
  • This will be the first time in over two decades that these two programs will play each other as the last match was in 2004.

Follow Along

  • All matches at the NCAA Columbia Regional will be streamed on Track Tennis.
  • Live stats are available on StatBroadcast.
  • Cracked Racquets will be providing cross court coverage of this event on their YouTube channel.

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

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