Tigers push past Carolina, extend series winning streak to five
With a chance to snap a four-match losing streak against archrival Clemson, the Gamecocks had high expectations coming into Wednesday afternoon.
But South Carolina was in for a disappointing 5-2 defeat, coming up short in a highly contested doubles point and losing four of six singles matches against coach Josh Goffi’s alma mater.
“I think the guys came out really fired up to play,” Goffi said. “They competed hard. It’s one of the better matches we’ve played this year. The rivalry definitely got them going.”
After Harry Menzies and Chris Sheehan lost at No. 3 doubles, Ivan Machado and Nick Jones put the Gamecocks back in the running for the doubles point with a 9-8 tiebreaker win.
But Chip Cox and Alexander Kostanov took a narrow 9-7 loss in No. 2 doubles, snapping their three-match winning streak.
Clemson extended its lead to 3-0 with wins in No. 4 and No. 2 singles, but Carolina wasn’t ready to give up. Machado gave the Gamecocks their first point when he defeated the No. 106 singles player in the nation, Derek DiFazio, by a score of 7-5, 7-6.
“That’s something we’ve been missing,” Goffi said. “Ivan’s been playing really well this season. He has repeatedly been in position to win, yet he hasn’t closed the door. Today was one of those days where he deserved it. I’m happy just to see that he got it.”
Cox narrowed the gap even further with his ninth singles win of the season. Playing in the No. 3 spot, the freshman dominated his first set 6-1. After surrendering a loss in the second, he fought for a 7-5 win in the decisive third set.
“Chip’s an animal,” Goffi said. “He bounces back really easily from losses in singles and also previous losses. He does a great job separating from match to match, and he came out of the gates hot, and that helped us with a little momentum. He did his job today.”
With the No. 5 and No. 6 matches still in progress, the Gamecocks had a chance to close the afternoon with a win. But Johannes Pulsfort and Menzies lost in straight sets to ruin USC’s chances for a comeback.
No one was more disappointed in the outcome of the match than Goffi. He’s faced off against Clemson in the past as the assistant coach of at Duke, but as a rookie head coach at Carolina, he had all the more desire to defeat the Tigers.
“In the past I’ve played [Clemson] when I was at my former school. That was a little awkward at first,” Goffi said. “But business is business. I’m the Carolina coach. Yeah, that’s my alma mater, but I wanted to win that match as badly as anybody. It’s the pride of what I’m doing here.
“I definitely wanted to prove something, so it’s a little unfortunate we came up short,” he said.