USC aims to finish fall season on high note
South Carolina’s men’s tennis team will play its final tournament of the fall, the ITA Carolinas Regional, this weekend in Chapel Hill, N.C.
The Gamecocks will compete against players from Duke, UNC, Clemson, Wake Forest and other schools in the Carolinas for an opportunity to advance to the National Indoor Championship.
“The field is going to be extremely strong; it always is,” said coach Josh Goffi. “We have one of the toughest regions in the country as far as the level of individual players that take part in our draw. It should be a great weekend.”
USC’s top player this season has been freshman Andrew Adams, who leads the team with five singles victories, the most recent coming in the consolation round of Southern Intercollegiates. Freshman Carl Eguez advanced to the Round of 16 in the same tournament before losing to Nassim Slilam of Florida.
Adams and Eguez, along with fellow freshmen Ben Barnette and Kyle Koch, will look to end the fall on a positive note by incorporating adjustments from previous tournaments.
“Each guy has his own goal set and his own expectations,” Goffi said. “Some guys are a little further along on the progression. We’ve had about three weeks to prepare, so we’ve really gone back to the drawing board and restructured some of the guys’ games. It’s to the point now where some guys are putting it together, so everybody’s got their own level of expectation.
“As far as [assistant coach Matt Lucas] and I are concerned, we’re anxious to see how they test after they’ve made the adjustments and improvements they’ve gained.”
Three doubles teams will compete for USC this weekend as well. Adams will play with sophomore Nick Jones, Koch will play with sophomore Chip Cox, and Eguez will play with senior Ivan Machado. The Gamecocks are likely to call on the same tandems in the spring season.
“We’re getting closer to finalizing, or at least solidifying, some teams,” Goffi said. “We’re happy with what we’re putting out there this week, and we’ve been working with these teams for the past two or three weeks. We’re certainly excited to see what’s to come.”
After this weekend, USC will not play another match until it travels to Lexington, Ky., for SEC Indoor Championships in January. The team will use the rest of the fall to focus on conditioning and technique in preparation for the spring.
“The training schedule will be pretty intense,” Goffi said. “We’re going to get stronger. We’re going to go back and work on specific areas that need to get improved and really break down some of the technical aspects of their games. Coach Lucas and I spent a lot of time planning a schedule with this freshman class, and this is such a young team.
“We’re looking forward to it. It’s going to be an exciting time, and we’re using this tournament to test the guys and see how to rebuild their games. Come springtime, they’ll be ready to race.”