Men’s Tennis Opens Spring Season at SEC Indoor Championships
COLUMBIA,
S.C. – South Carolina men’s tennis kicks off its spring campaign with a
trip to the SEC Indoor Championships in Lexington, Ky. The tournament
begins on Fri., Jan. 13, with six other teams joining the Gamecocks at
the annual event – Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Ole Miss and
Vanderbilt. South Carolina has seven singles entries in the 64-player
draw, and four doubles tandems will compete in the 32-team bracket.
Freshmen
Ben Barnette and Carl Equez will kick off doubles action at 8:30 a.m.
along with Andrew Adams and sophomore Chip Cox. Senior Ivan Machado
will team with freshman Thiago Pinheiro for a 9:30 a.m. match, and
sophomore Nick Jones and Kyle Koch team up for a 10:30 a.m. contest.
All matches will be played at University of Kentucky’s Hilary J. Boone
Tennis Complex.
Machado headlines the quartet of Gamecocks
opening singles action at 1 p.m. at the Lexington Tennis Club. The
senior is ranked 17th in the Carolinas Region entering the spring
season after advancing to the round of 16 at the Carolinas Regional to
close out the fall campaign. Cox, Eguez and Koch also start their
singles action at 1 p.m.
Ranked No. 14 in the Carolinas Region,
Jones will lead Adams and Pinheiro in the 3 p.m. round of matches on
Friday. Jones is 5-3 on the season after finishing fifth in the top
bracket of the Duke Fab Four Invite and advancing to the round of 16 at
the Carolinas Regional. Adams led the team with seven singles victories
in the fall, taking third place in the Black bracket of the Duke Fab
Four and reaching the consolation round of 16 in the Southern
Intercollegiates.
A second round of singles, including the start of a consolation bracket, will take place on Friday as well.
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