Men’s tennis challenges Alabama, Auburn
The South Carolina men’s tennis team will look to earn its first conference wins of the season this weekend as it hosts Alabama on Friday and Auburn on Sunday.
The Gamecocks (7-9, 0-4 SEC) have been on the wrong side of a tough schedule, as they have not been able to find a win in their first four conference games and have dropped their past five games overall.
All five teams they’ve faced are ranked nationally in the top 30, and coach Josh Goffi believes the four conference opponents his team has faced are actually top-15 caliber.
By playing well against good competition, Goffi said the team has gained confidence heading into this weekend despite its rough start in conference play. He said the team is primarily focused on the process of the season rather than the losses.
“Our level of play actually isn’t all that bad right now; we’re just not getting the wins,” Goffi said. “There’s a big difference between being down and just not getting the wins, and right now, that’s it. We’re just not getting the wins.”
Freshman Andrew Schafer knows the No. 48 Gamecocks need to see some results in their matchups with Alabama (9-9, 2-3 SEC) and Auburn (14-5, 4-1 SEC) to help the team continue to gain confidence. Though they enter with a winless conference record, he says it’s not quite time to hit the panic button.
“We’re all staying positive,” Schafer said. “We know that the season is still young, so there’s still a lot of tennis to be played, a lot of teams to play and big wins to come.”
Goffi said the upcoming matchups won’t be easy, but if South Carolina is able to come away victorious in both, then the team will gain some much-needed momentum. The No. 42 Crimson Tide and No. 30 Tigers look to seek revenge after losing to the Gamecocks last year. Goffi said the team will have a target on its back and the fact that the contests are against SEC foes doesn’t help.
“It’s the toughest conference in the country,” Goffi said. “It’s SEC. Everyone’s out for blood.”
The Gamecocks faced a similar test last season, as they were also in a losing streak before facing the two Alabama schools. Those two wins propelled South Carolina to a four-game winning streak and helped the team win six of its final eight games.
Schafer insists the team can repeat the outcome this year, because they still have plenty of energy and they are playing well.
“We can feel that good things are coming our way,” Schafer said. “We just haven’t been capitalizing, but I can feel that this weekend is going to be good.”
As the team enters the final part of the season, the coaches have shown an increased emphasis on the basics. Goffi wanted to put things into perspective for the team because he didn’t want his players to panic, considering their schedule is tougher than last year’s and they are competing with the very best.
“We don’t need to play better,” Goffi said. “We need to play exactly the way we did against Georgia and exactly the way we did against Tennessee, and we will be successful coming into this last stretch.”