Gamecocks take on Wake Forest, NC State this weekend
With conference play looming just a few weeks away, the No. 26 South Carolina men’s tennis team will travel to the heart of ACC country this weekend to battle No. 20 Wake Forest on Friday and No. 35 North Carolina State on Sunday.
The weekend road trip will be the Gamecocks’ biggest test of the season so far. Although South Carolina has already squared off against three ranked teams through their first seven matches, back-to-back matches against strong ACC teams should challenge the Gamecocks’ toughness.
In the latest edition of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association team rankings, only the SEC had more teams (11) in the top 32 than the ACC’s six.
Coach Josh Goffi said he is not expecting anything to come easy.
“It’ll be a different pressure. We know that Wake’s extremely good, and in fact probably way better than us right now,” Goffi said. “We’re gonna have a lot to gain for the first time in this season.
We’re gonna have something to go get, and that’s gonna be exciting for our guys, so I’m interested to see how they respond to that.”
As the early portion of the tennis season has shown, any lapse of focus can lead directly to defeat.
Due to a rule change, players no longer play deuce at 40-all, where he would need to win consecutive points to win the game. The rule now calls for one decisive point. Set tiebreakers are now played at five-all rather than six-all, effectively transforming tennis from a marathon sport into a sprint. Doubles have also been shortened from a pro-style, eight-game set to one normal six-game set.
Senior Tsvetan Mihov acknowledged that while the change takes some getting used to, the Gamecocks aren’t the only ones who have to deal with the differences.
“It’s pretty different,” Mihov said. “We played one system our whole life, and now they’re switching to another, and I think this allows weaker teams to match up with better teams. Weaker guys play much better with a lot of the best guys in the country and beat them, but we’re still learning from the experience.”
One player who has excelled under the rule change is freshman Andrew Schafer. While he might benefit from not having played under the old rules, what is certain is that Schafer is taking care of business.
In his last six sets — which have resulted in three straight-set victories — Schafer has dropped only 11 games. He was named the SEC Freshman of the Week on Wednesday for his performance last weekend.
Mihov will have his hands full on Friday, as Wake Forest’s No. 1 Romain Bogaerts is currently ranked 20th in the nation. However, Mihov isn’t changing his approach based on his opponent.
“We’re looking always for the win. We’re going there mentally for the win. We have nothing to lose,” Mihov said. “We’re a good team, but we should never think about the rankings.”
Because the ACC holds many successful tennis programs, Goffi said he feels the crowds this weekend will likely surpass the ones South Carolina has played in front of so far.
“It should be a fun atmosphere,” he said. “I’m expecting a whole lot of energy, so hopefully we can do some good up there.”