After finishing up their fall schedule with a resounding win, the Gamecock men’s tennis team looks to carry momentum into the spring.
The No. 27 Gamecocks open their tough spring with a doubleheader this weekend against No. 55 Elon and Furman, respectively. The team ended the fall season on a high note, sweeping both singles and doubles at the Bulldog Invitational in Athens, Georgia.
Because the fall season does not count toward the team’s season record, Coach Josh Goffi used the schedule to allow the freshman a chance to get acclimated to the game at the college level while experimenting with different lineups.
The Gamecocks return four of their six singles starters from last year’s team, and last year owned the No. 2 recruiting class in the country. Goffi believes this will give his team an advantage.
“We’ve got a great mix. We have three seniors that are probably going to be stacking the top of our lineup as we see it right now,” Goffi said. “We’ve got some sophomores and freshmen mixed in in the bottom three.”
ITA ranks three Gamecocks in the top 120. Seniors Thiago Pinheiro and Kyle Koch enter the season ranked No. 71 and 118, respectively, while sophomore Andrew Schafer begins the season ranked No. 83.
Schafer boasted only a 7-5 record this fall but featured a close, three-set loss against the nation’s seventh-ranked player and a win over No. 15.
Goffi, however, expects unranked senior Andrew Adams to start at the top of the six-man team. Despite a disappointing fall, the All-American is expected to have another impressive spring season.
This year, the Gamecocks look to have a potent doubles lineup, as well, led by the redshirt freshmen pairing of Thomas Mayronne and Harrison O’Keefe. The two are ranked 46th in the preseason ITA rankings.
The duo is a part of a young wave that is looking to take the team to unprecedented heights and while they played together in the fall, Goffi isn’t sure yet if they will in the spring.
“Whether they play together or not in the spring is yet to be seen,” Goffi said. “We need to make the doubles lineup work in all three spots. We know we have a very solid team in them, but we need to make all three positions work for us as a winning trio.”
But Goffi said that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
“We’ve got a lot of options this year," he said, "probably more than we’ve ever had before, so it’s a good problem to have.”
The team is looking to build on its late season success this weekend. The spring schedule is always tough, and this year is no exception with 12 matches against top-30 teams.
This Gamecock team is brimming with confidence and will be put to the test Saturday. The match against Elon will begin at 10 a.m., and Furman will play at 3 p.m.