Columbia, S.C. – Men’s Tennis Earns At-Large Bid to NCAAs
No. 15 South Carolina men’s tennis earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the 29th time in program history and tenth time under head coach Josh Goffi. The Gamecocks will be hitting the road for the first time in four years, having hosted the first and second rounds in Columbia during the past three seasons.
South Carolina (17-14, 4-8 SEC) will play Old Dominion (20-7, 7-1 SBC) in the first round on Fri., May 3, at 1:00 p.m. at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Complex. The other first-round match in Raleigh, N.C. will feature UNC-Wilmington and host and 14th-seeded NC State playing at 4:00 p.m.
Historic Run in SEC Tournament
The Gamecocks will enter their seventh straight NCAA Tournament this weekend and are coming off of an appearance in the title match of the SEC Tournament. The team entered the conference tournament as the No. 11 seed and made a historic run, becoming the lowest seed to ever advance to the title match. En route to the finale, the then-No. 24 ranked Gamecocks upset then-No. 19 Alabama, then-No. 15 Mississippi State, and then-No. 6 Tennessee before falling to No. 4 Kentucky 4-2 in the program’s first event title match.
ITA Rankings and Honors
Currently the Gamecocks have three players in the ITA singles rankings and two pairs in the doubles rankings with a new set of rankings scheduled to be released on Thursday before the NCAA tournament begins. Toby Samuel leads the team at No. 8, followed by No. 89 James Story and No. 92 Casey Hoole. Samuel and Hoole lead in the doubles rankings at No. 18 followed by Samuel and Story at No. 44. Samuel and Story were recently announced as All-SEC members with Samuel on the First Team and Story on the Second Team.
SEC Dominance in NCAA Tournament
The Gamecocks are one of 11 SEC teams to make the 2024 NCAA Tournament field, including four that will host the opening rounds of the event. Hosting the event will be Kentucky (5), Tennessee (7), Texas A&M (15), and Mississippi State (16). Vanderbilt, Auburn, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, and Florida are also in the 64-team field. Future SEC members Texas (2) and Oklahoma (11) also earned hosting rights in this season’s tournament.
Schedule
Friday, May 3
1:00pm – South Carolina vs. Old Dominion
4:00pm – UNC-Wilmington vs. NC State (14)
Saturday, May 4
5:00pm – Winner Match 1 vs. Winner Match 2
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