The No. 8 South Carolina men's tennis team extended its season-opening winning streak to five with two dominant victories during the ITA Kickoff Weekend.
With those two victories, the Gamecocks earned a place in the ITA National Men's Team Indoor Championships beginning Feb. 17 in Chicago, Illinois.
Game one
An early doubles win by graduate student Jake Beasley and junior James Story set the tone as South Carolina swept the Penn Quakers at home 4-0.
Beasley and Story dominated their doubles match against Penn's freshman duo of Manfredi Graziani and Kian Vakili 6-2. South Carolina then secured the doubles point with graduate student Raphael Lambling and sophomore Casey Hoole defeating Quaker seniors Harsh Parikh and Aditya Gupta 6-4.
Beasley and Story are undefeated in doubles matches this year, and head coach Josh Goffi said he's impressed with the duo's chemistry at this point in the season.
“They vibe well as a team. In doubles, that makes a difference,” Goffi said. “As far as game styles, but also personalities, they’re an extremely aggressive team … They’re tough to deal with at a two spot.”
In singles play, Story defeated Parikh, the No. 102 player in the country, by a 6-3, 6-3 score. Gamecock junior Toby Samuel, the No. 15 player in the country, beat No. 48 Penn senior Edoardo Graziani 6-3, 6-4. Samuel struggled early in the first set and fell behind 2-1, but he pulled away in the end and put South Carolina up 3-0 overall in the matchup.
"It’s just getting him up to speed, and then we can start focusing on the tactical adjustments inside a match,” Goffi said when talking about Samuel’s early struggles. “It’s his first time playing one. I mean, he’s had very big accolades on the world stage already, but college tennis is a different animal … it’s another mountain he has to climb.”
Junior Connor Thomson followed Samuel's performance with a 6-1, 7-6 (9-7) victory over senior Kevin Zhu to clinch the victory for South Carolina.
Throughout the match, energy at the Carolina Indoor Tennis Center was electric, regardless of whether the Gamecocks or Penn were playing well.
“This is like night session US Open, that would be the best way to describe it,” Goffi said. “Our guys love the crowd, and they're feeding off it … Our crowd right now is amazing.”
Game two
After the strong performance against the Quakers on Saturday, South Carolina completed the weekend sweep with another 4-0 victory over the NC State Wolfpack.
The Gamecocks began the match strong by taking the doubles point with a dominant 6-1 victory by Samuel and Thomson followed by a 6-4 win by Beasley and Story.
After a successful doubles round, the Gamecocks kept its positive momentum heading into the singles with standout performances from Samuel, Beasley and Thomson.
Beasley was in full control in the first set of his match against NC State freshman Martin Borisiouk, sweeping the set 6-0. Samuel was in full control in the first set of his match against NC State senior Martins Rocens 6-1.
Thomson, the reigning SEC Player of the Week, played a hard-fought first set against Wolfpack senior Robin Catry. The two alternated points each game until Thomson came up strong in the end, winning three games in a row to take the first set 6-4.
Samuel continued his authoritative play in the second set, winning by an identical 6-1 score to complete his victory against Rocens and clinch another point for South Carolina.
With the energetic crowd eager to watch the Gamecocks clinch the sweep, Beasley and Thomson continued to battle hard against a Wolfpack team determined to keep its ITA championship hopes alive. Both South Carolina players emerged victorious in their respective second sets to give the Gamecocks the four points it needed to bring home the overall match win.
What's next
The South Carolina men's tennis team returns to action on Friday in a Palmetto Series matchup at the rival Clemson Tigers.