Gamecocks to face Ole Miss, Mississippi State over weekend
After two wins in its most recent doubleheader, the South Carolina men’s tennis team will be back on the court this weekend, as it hosts No. 14 Ole Miss at the Carolina Tennis Center Friday before traveling to Starkville to take on No. 12 Mississippi State Sunday.
The Gamecocks (13-5, 0-4 SEC) defeated in-state nonconference opponents College of Charleston and Coastal Carolina in a doubleheader last Sunday. Before that they downed rival Clemson. The Rebels’ (7-4, 3-1) most recent match was against West Florida, the No. 7 ranked team in Division II. Their only conference defeat was a 4-3 loss to then–No. 4 Georgia.
The top four singles players for Ole Miss are No. 13 Nik Scholtz, No. 35 Jonas Lutjen, No. 38 Marcel Thiemann and No. 63 William Kallberg. The team also boast two doubles teams ranked in the top 35 -— the 12th-ranked senior brothers Marcel and Chris Thiemann and the No. 33 tandem of Scholtz and Lutjen. South Carolina is led by singles players Ivan Machado and Nick Jones. Machado will be back in the lineup after sitting out with a minor illness Sunday. At doubles Carolina is led by the sophomore pair of Chip Cox and Jones.
Coach Josh Goffi was confident despite the Rebels’ talent and said the match would come down to who established their style of play first.
“It’s going to come down to one thing Friday,” he said. “We’re a young team, so it’s about us going in there establishing our game style; if we can do that from beginning I think we’ll be successful. It’s going to take a while to do that against such a good team, but each guy knows what they’re trying to accomplish against their opponents and we just have to go out and execute.”
Goffi said doubles play had significantly improved from the beginning of the season, and he felt they could really compete with Ole Miss’s doubles squads. He also said Machado would be fine following his illness over the weekend and would move back into the top singles spot this weekend.
“He had a little illness, and playing those teams we could get away with not playing him,” he said of Machado. “He’s feeling much better now; he had a great practice today. So I think he’ll be ready to go.”
Goffi had high praise for Ole Miss’s doubles camaraderie, but noted that Scholtz, a South African native and redshirt freshman, is already one of the best players in the NCAA.
“He’s an unbelievable ball striker. He hits the ball 100 percent like a pro. In college he looks like a guy that would make it on the (pro) tour,” he said of Scholtz. “He’s a very strong kid, 6 foot 5 inches, huge serve, huge forehand, a smooth backhand, and he likes to come forward. He does everything pretty well ... but Machado plays a very different game, so he could give him fits; it’ll be interesting to see if he can step up and give him trouble this weekend.”
Finally, Goffi stressed the fitness of both teams as an important intangible factor in what promises to be a hot weekend, and felt that being in great shape was one area where his team could have an advantage.
On Sunday the Gamecocks will face No. 12 Mississippi State on the road. The Bulldogs (12-4, 3-1) most recently won 4-3 at Tennessee. They are led at first singles by No. 27 Artem Ilyushin, a senior native of Russia, and also have the No. 23 doubles team of senior Louis Cant and sophomore Malte Stropp at the first position. Cant is also the No. 37 singles player in the nation.
Goffi said the Bulldogs have a lot of talent, and he praised the way they’ve built their program to be a top-15 squad.
“They’ve rebuilt that program, and they’ve been very successful; it took about five years,” he said of the Bulldogs. “They are one of the most complete teams that I’ve seen. There are more talented rosters of players across the board, but as far as being a team I have to give it up to them. They fight together and hold each other accountable, and it’s a team we’re looking to emulate a bit in building this program.”
He also praised Ilyushin’s speed and ability to use it to play good tennis.
“He’s far and away their best player. He has amazing wheels, really fast and is a great counterpuncher,” Goffi said. “He does nothing great but everything well. But he’s a great competitor, and that’s what gets him to win.”
He said the Bulldogs’ doubles teams play unorthodox defensive tennis, but their energy makes them successful in doing so. Goffi noted that the rest of the singles for the Bulldogs are similar to each other and should be able to match up well with South Carolina.
Goffi seemed to know his team was in for a real battle in facing both top-15 teams, but nevertheless, this weekend the Gamecocks will try and pick up their first conference win of the season.