Team now prepares for All-American championships at end of month
The men’s tennis team opened its fall season this weekend in the SEC Fall Classic in Nashville, Tenn.
Although the Gamecocks fell short of winning in singles or doubles, the team left Nashville with a lot of confidence after the way they played.
Head coach Josh Goffi, the 2013 SEC Coach of the Year, was extremely pleased with the way his team performed this past weekend.
“It was a great tourney for us, with a lot of great matches for our team. It was an unbelievable way for us to start off the year,” said Goffi. “Our guys worked really hard and got some big-time wins for themselves. Overall, I was very pleased with the way we played.”
The top performers for the Gamecocks in the tournament were seniors Chip Cox, Tsvetan Mihov and junior Kyle Koch.
No. 14 Mihov advanced to the quarterfinals in the singles bracket before falling in three sets for his first loss of the season. Cox was able to reach the semifinals of the singles bracket before being defeated by Elliott Orkin from the University of Florida.
The 26th-ranked doubles tandem of Koch and Cox were able to get past the No. 57 duo, but dropped a tiebreaker to the 13th-ranked team of Ryan Lipman and Gonzalez Austin of Vanderbilt in the semifinals.
The loss did not shake the spirits of Koch as he left the tournament with a lot of confidence in himself and his teammates going into the ITA All American Championships at the end of this month.
“I was very pleased with the way I played. The tourney went really well for me, and I felt that I competed very well,” Koch said. “We gained a lot of confidence and experience. The very tough competition from the SEC tourney helps you prepare for the All American Championships.”
Coach Goffi also felt his team learned a lot from the weekend’s past tournament.
“We’re moving in the right direction, especially with stiff competition coming up,” Goffi said. “The season is real, the year is real, the blood is flowing and we’re really looking forward to this next tourney. The boys are looking really good.”
Although the team was happy with their performance in Nashville, there are always some things that can be worked on, Goffi said.
“Just (continue) constantly improving on little things, (there were) not a lot of large things to improve on,” Goffi said. “Each guy has little things that he can improve on every day. Me and coach (Ryan) Young will see what they need to work on and where they can develop their strengths. Everyone is really supportive of one another and constantly improving.”
As for the remainder of the fall season, Koch has some high expectations of himself and his teammates.
“Individually, I hope to qualify for All Americans and make All Americans for doubles, and for our team I want us to continue to grow and get better every day,” Koch said.