USC set for matches at Duke, UNC Wilmington
The newest members of South Carolina’s men’s tennis team will face some of the best players in the country when they open their fall season in a pair of tournaments this weekend.
Four players will travel to Durham, N.C., to play in the Duke Fab Four tournament while three others will take part in the UNC Wilmington Invitational.
“This being such a young team, we have right now some freshmen and some second-semester freshmen on the squad,” coach Josh Goffi said. “It’s going to be very important to guide these guys in the right direction. The main goal is to expose them to the level of competition they’re going to have to compete at, show them the bar that they have to reach then come back to campus and get to work.”
Nick Jones and Chip Cox, both sophomore students, will face stiff competition at Duke from programs that include Wake Forest and NC State. They will be joined by Carl Eguez and Andrew Adams, two blue chip recruits competing in their first collegiate matches. Senior Henry Walker will go to Wilmington with freshmen Ben Barnette and Kyle Koch.
“Chip and Nick didn’t have a fall season last year, but they were both recruits at the time. I want them to see what it’s like to be competing against some of the top teams in the country,” Goffi said. “I feel like they’re ready to give a run to those schools and see where they line up against some of their better players.”
Cox, Adams, Barnette and Koch impressed their coach over the summer with their performance at the USTA Boys 18 Nationals. Koch advanced the furthest of the four, losing a fourth-round qualifying match. Cox and Adams both lost third-round matches.
“There was a lot of great improvement from all those players from the time that I recruited them to the time they played at nationals,” Goffi said. “It was great as a coach to see them in a high-pressure atmosphere. There’s a lot to prove when you’re out there at nationals. It was really a pleasant experience for me. They’ve done a lot of work on things we talked about during the recruiting process.”
As the newest Gamecocks gain collegiate experience, they will look for leadership from Walker and Ivan Machado, who spent most of the spring season as the team’s No.1 singles player. Expectations are high for the team’s only seniors to set the tone for their young teammates.
“Being a senior has a lot of responsibility, and they need to lead by example with such a young team,” Goffi said. “We’re at a critical time with this program. We’re a team with a lot of young players. With Machado and Walker as our leaders, they need to be perfect in all aspects — not necessarily with wins and losses by any stretch. But they need to lead by example and be accountable.”