The South Carolina men's tennis team won five of seven matches against the Georgia State Panthers on Sunday. This extends its winning streak to seven matches and improves its record to 9-1 overall and 8-0 at the Carolina Tennis Center.
The team is now 9-1 overall and 8-0 at the Carolina Tennis Center. The Gamecocks entered the matches with three ranked singles players.
No. 4 Paul Jubb is now tied for the highest singles ranking in South Carolina men's tennis history. No. 76 true freshman Daniel Rodrigues moved up more than 30 spots this week in the rankings. No. 95 Raphael Lambling was named SEC Freshman of the Week earlier this week.
The match started off quickly for South Carolina, as the team came out with two doubles wins to start the day.
Raphael Lambling and Daniel Rodrigues came out on top with a 6-3 victory. The duo of Paul Jubb and Joseph Brailovsky won their match 6-1. Jake Beasley and Patrick Cacciatore fell to the Panthers tandem of Jack MacFarlane and Giles Hussey with a score of 6-2.
However, South Carolina struggled a bit more in singles play on a windy afternoon.
To start, both Brailovsky and Beau Pelletier were tied with their Georgia State opponents. Lambling, Brailovsky, Cacciatore and Pelletier all dropped their first sets to the Panthers. Later, Pelletier rallied in three-set victories to win the match.
Cacciatore made up for a loss in doubles with a singles win (1-6, 7-5, 6-4) that clinched the Gamecock victory for the second time in a row. Cacciatore and Pelletier both are now 4-0 on the season in dual matches.
Other singles victories came from Paul Jubb (6-4, 6-0), Daniel Rodrigues (6-2, 6-0) and Beau Pelletier (3-6, 6-4, 6-4). Jubb and Rodrigues held their own to clinch their singles matches in slightly more than an hour.
South Carolina has now beaten Georgia State in the last three matches they have played and has improved its record at home to 26-2 over the past three seasons, according to Gamecocks Online.
South Carolina will play its first match in SEC play of the season against the No. 37 Arkansas Razorbacks this Friday in Fayetteville, Arkansas, at 6 p.m.