South Carolina’s men’s tennis team started the weekend off with a victory against Auburn on Friday, and they tried to continue the winning ways on Sunday when they faced the No. 14 Florida Gators (13-6, 8-2).
Old demons returned as the Gamecocks could not find a way to win in doubles. Alex Fennell and Sam Swank were defeated in the second match by a score of 6-1. Wood Benton and Andrew Schafer tried to keep the Gamecocks’ hopes up, but they eventually fell by a score of 6-4 in the No. 3 match. This gave the Gators the early 1-0 advantage.
Florida secured two early wins in the singles matches by defeating Harrison O’Keefe 6-3, 6-3 in the No. 3 match and Thomas Mayronne 6-3, 6-1 in the No. 5 match, but the rest of the victories would not come easily for the Gators.
No. 66 Gabriel Friedrich was was in a highly competitive match with No. 17 Diego Hidalgo in the No. 1 match. However, Hidalgo came out on top by scores of 6-4, 7-5 to give the Gators another point.
Schafer put up a great fight in the No. 2 match where he fell just short against No. 109 Alfredo Perez by scores of 7-6, 7-5.
Benton in the No. 6 match and Fennell in the No. 4 match had the best performances of the day against the Gators, as each forced three set matches. Benton won the first set 6-4 but dropped the next two 4-6, 0-6. Fennell secured the Gamecocks’ only victory of the day. He dropped the first set 5-7, but he rallied and won the final two sets 6-3, 6-4.