The South Carolina men's tennis team opened up its 2014-15 schedule this weekend, traveling to Gainesville, Florida for the SEC Fall Classic.
Throughout the four days of tournament action and across singles and doubles competition, Gamecocks old and new found success on the Florida Gators' home courts.
The first day of competition was Friday, and the slate of matches featured six South Carolina players in singles action and three Gamecock duos participating in doubles. Senior Andrew Adams, senior Kyle Koch and sophomore Andrew Schafer all earned singles victories to advance in the tournament, while two doubles pairs moved on Friday, including the freshman duo of Thomas Mayronne and Harrison O'Keefe.
Saturday's singles round of 16 saw Koch continue his tournament with a 7-5, 6-4 sweep of Auburn's Lukas Ollert. Mayronne and O'Keefe's doubles partnership continued to flourish in the second day of play, as the two advanced to the semifinals with their Saturday win.
The Fall Classic extended through Monday, but South Carolina fielded its last players Sunday, as the doubles competition came to a close and Koch fell to Florida's Gordon Watson to wrap up the Gamecocks' representation in singles. Mayronne and O'Keefe concluded their first collegiate action with some silverware, as the duo took earned a semifinal victory and fell short in the doubles final, earning a second-place trophy Sunday afternoon.
"This tournament gave us exactly what we needed at this point in the year," head coach Josh Goffi told Gamecocksonline.com. "We wanted quality matches against quality opponents, and that's what we got."