South Carolina men’s tennis defeated Arkansas, Sunday afternoon, for 6-1. The Gamecocks took the doubles point and were able to continue the momentum through singles play, winning five of their six games.
The men’s tennis team will continue SEC action on the road on Friday, traveling to Oxford, Miss., to face Ole Miss at 4pm. E.T.
In the singles, No. 3 Samuel was first to finish his game to help the Gamecocks extend their lead to 2-0. Lui defeated his opponent Stefanos Savva in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1. Samuel is now 15-3 in dual play with a 5-2 record against SEC opponents.
No. 8 Thomson ended his game shortly thereafter, defeating Manuel to give the Gamecocks a 3-0 lead. His victory also came in two sets, 6-1, 6-4. Thomson has won each of his last three matches with his most recent two coming in straight sets.
The match was won by No. 82 Casey Hoole who defeated opponent Benni Emesz on court 4. Hoole fought back after giving up an early break in the first set to make it 6-3, but Emesz fought back in the second set, going up 3-0 to start. Hoole refused to give up, taking the next three games to tie the set at three all. From there, the two opponents traded back-and-forth service games and the set went into a tiebreaker.
The tiebreak was all Hoole with the Gamecock storming out to a 3-0 lead before conceding his opponent a point on the board. Unfortunately for Emesz, that was the only point Hoole would concede. The sophomore claimed the next four points to take the set 7-6 (1), tying up the match.
The last three matches were played with all three third sets to be decided. The Razorbacks were able to get their only point on the board with a tiebreak win on field 6, but the Gamecocks were able to take fields 5 and 3 to close out the game.
In doubles, the Gamecocks reverted to their usual lineup and were the first to get a win as No. 1. Connor Thomson and Toby Samuel defeated Arkansas’ Adrien Burdet and Melvin Manual 6-3. No. 43 Jake Beasley and James Story were the ones to grab the point, coming from 2-4 down to win their match in a tie-break with a score of 7-6(5).
Photo Credits: South Carolina University website
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