USC prepares to compete in Athens, Ga.
South Carolina will have a chance to add a new chapter to the oldest fall tennis tournament in the nation when it travels to Athens, Ga. this weekend for the Southern Intercollegiates Tournament.
A week after opening its season with two tournaments in North Carolina, USC’s young team will look to prove itself in Georgia.
“This tournament has a lot of history. It’s one of the largest draw sizes,” coach Josh Goffi said. “There are a lot of small schools this time, and pretty much every SEC school is going to be there, and a lot of ACC schools. The draw will be loaded with very high-level players, so a lot of great opportunities are going to be there for our guys. We’re going to get out there and give them our best.”
Carolina’s freshmen provided several impressive performances in their first collegiate action last weekend. Andrew Adams finished third in his bracket at the Duke Fab Four Invitational, while Ben Barnette and Kyle Koch each lost super-tiebreakers in their consolation matches at UNC-Wilmington.
“Andrew’s a great player. He’s our highest-ranked recruit,” Goffi said. “Last weekend he showed everything we recruited him for. There’s a lot of room for him to grow, and there’s a lot of work to be done, but overall, it was a great weekend.
“There were things that we saw at both tournaments that need improvement, but it was a positive experience for everyone. Overall, everyone is very excited for this next week. I saw a lot of great things, a lot of things we’ve been working on in practice. They all made steps in the right direction, so we’re pretty happy with what we saw.”
Sophomore Nick Jones started his season with a fifth-place finish in his bracket at Duke, while sophomore Chip Cox took third place in the consolation side of his bracket. In Wilmington, senior Henry Walker won his opening match before losing in the quarterfinals.
Senior Ivan Machado did not compete last weekend and won’t play in Athens this weekend due to a lack of medical clearance. His injury is not serious, and while there is no confirmed timetable for his return, Goffi hopes that he will rejoin the team within the next few weeks.
Although the Gamecocks’ focus will be on improvement from last week’s tournaments, they will take advantage of the opportunity to preview their conference rivals when they take the court this weekend.
“Right now, we’re focusing more on how our guys will be playing and building off that with what we’re trying to do to get them ready for the spring season,” Goffi said. “It’s nice for our guys to see the level that we’re going to be facing and size up our competition. We really pay attention to ourselves in this tournament and try to improve what we put out there.”