The South Carolina men’s tennis team, ranked No. 22 nationally, is set to host No. 4 Texas in its Southeastern Conference (SEC) home opener on Friday, February 27 at the Carolina Outdoor Tennis Center. The match is scheduled for 1 p.m., weather permitting. Following this contest, the Gamecocks will travel to face No. 16 Florida on Sunday, March 1.
Parking for Friday’s home match will be limited due to the closure of the pit and concurrent sporting events in the area. Fans are advised to use metered parking around the facility or park at Key Road and take a shuttle service available from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
South Carolina enters these matches with a six-match winning streak after recent road victories over then-No. 18 Oklahoma and then-No. 29 Arkansas, both by scores of 4-3. In their win against Oklahoma, doubles teams Paul Barbier Gazeu & Lucas da Silva and Sean Daryabeigi & Max Stenzer secured early points for South Carolina. Singles wins by Gazeu and da Silva kept the Gamecocks competitive before Charlie Swaine clinched the overall victory.
Against Arkansas, South Carolina overcame an initial deficit after losing the doubles point and falling behind in singles play. Wins by Swaine, Daryabeigi, Gabe Avram, and da Silva helped secure another close victory.
Following these performances, Lucas da Silva was named SEC Player of the Week for the second time this season while Charlie Swaine earned Freshman of the Week honors—marking South Carolina’s third such award this year.
Gazeu and da Silva remain undefeated as a doubles pair this dual match season with a record of 6-0. Da Silva has also posted a strong singles record at 6-2 from the top position; Swaine is currently 5-1 from lower in the lineup.
In individual ITA rankings, da Silva leads South Carolina at No. 44 in singles followed by Daryabeigi (No. 51) and Gazeu (No. 70). In doubles rankings, Gazeu/da Silva are No. 28; Daryabeigi/da Silva are No. 48; Stenzer/Daryabeigi round out at No. 86.
After previously dropping to No. 34 in team rankings earlier this season, South Carolina has moved back into the top-25 nationally at No. 22.
Texas comes into Friday’s matchup with an overall record of 11-3 and is on a seven-match winning streak that includes four wins over top-20 opponents. The Longhorns recently won their first ITA Indoors National Championship earlier this month by defeating then-No.2 Ohio State and hold a conference record of 2-0 after beating then-No.10 Mississippi State.
Sebastian Gorzny leads Texas in ITA singles rankings at No.3 with a dual match record of 10-1 from the top spot in their lineup; he is joined by Kalin Ivanovski (No.25), Sebastian Eriksson (No.40), and Abel Forger (No.67). In doubles play Eriksson & Oliver Ojakaar are ranked No.12 with an undefeated mark of 4-0; other Texas pairs include Gorzny/Lucas Brown (No.21) and Gorzny/Lucas Marionneu (No.25).
Florida holds an overall record of 6-5 but has started SEC play at 0-2 following losses to Auburn and Georgia last week; they will play Kentucky before hosting South Carolina on Sunday.
For Florida’s singles lineup Henry Jefferson is ranked No.29 followed by Pablo Perez Ramos (No.41), Jeremy Jin (No.46), and Adhithya Ganesan (No.93). In doubles rankings Tannapatt Nirundorn/Jefferson are listed at No .10 while Lorenzo Claverie/Jefferson appear at No .89 .
Historically Texas leads its series against South Carolina with an all-time record of one win for South Carolina versus eleven for Texas—the most recent meeting saw Texas win during last year’s SEC Championship match where Avram claimed South Carolina’s only point.
Florida leads its all-time series against South Carolina with thirty-four wins compared to nine for South Carolina; however ,the Gamecocks have won their last two meetings during both regular season play and SEC Championship quarterfinals last year .
Both upcoming matches will be streamed online with live scoring available through links on the schedule page. Updates can also be found via X (@GamecockMTennis).
For continued updates on men’s tennis visit GamecocksOnline.com or follow @GamecockMTennis on social media.
