South Carolina’s men’s tennis team entered Friday’s matchup looking to upset the No. 19 Georgia Bulldogs, but they got off to a rough start and never really recovered.
Georgia won the first two points of the day by securing two wins in doubles. In the No. 1 match-up for doubles, sophomore Harrison O’Keefe and junior Alex Fennell of the South Carolina were defeated by Georgia’s Austin Smith and Ben Wagland by a score of 6-4. Paul Oosterbaan and Jan Zielinski of Georgia beat junior Sam Swank and sophomore Gabriel Friedrich in the No. 2 match 6-1.
The Gamecocks were unable to gain any sort of momentum in singles.
In the No. 1 match-up, Friedrich lost to Smith 6-4, 6-2.
Sophomore Thomas Mayronne (No.5) and freshman Yancy Dennis (No. 6) both lost their games fairly quickly by scores of 6-2, 6-4 and 6-4, 6-4, respectively.
In the No. 2 game, junior Andrew Schafer won the first set 6-1 against Wayne Montgomery but dropped the next two sets 6-2, 6-1.
Harrison O’Keefe (No. 3) and Alex Fennell (No. 4) played in extremely competitive matches but came up short in the end. Fennell lost first by scores of 7-5, 7-6. During this time, O’Keefe's performance was shaky, and he lost the first set 6-7. Then, he won the next set 7-6. O’Keefe was unable to carry his success into the final set and lost 0-1. Georgia had secured the 7-0 victory over the Gamecocks.
The Gamecocks will try to regroup and get ready for their next match against the Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington, Kentucky, on March 25.