Alabama Falls to No. 5 South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. –– The Alabama men’s tennis team (8-7) fell to the fifth-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks (14-1) on Sunday.

Despite the loss to the top-ranked team in the Southeastern Conference, Alabama had two players force a third set. Matias Ponce De Leon and Roan Jones both took their matches into a third round against ranked singles players.  

The Match

• South Carolina opened the day with back-to-back wins on doubles courts two and three to clinch the first point of the day
• Enzo Aguiard and Filip Planinsek battled the top ranked doubles duo in the country, Toby Samuel and Connor Thomson to a 5-5 draw when the point was clinched
• In singles, Ponce De Leon took the 84^th-ranked singles player in the country into a third set, battling back from a 6-1 first set loss with a 6-2 victory in round two
• Ponce De Leon fell 6-3 in the third set to Raphael Lambling
• Roan Jones also took his opponent into a third set, going 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (3) against No. 83 Casey Hoole

Next

• Alabama will travel to Florida to face the 16^th-ranked Gators on Sunday
• The match between the Tide and Gators will begin at 11 a.m. CT

Results

Doubles:

1 | Enzo Aguiard/Filip Planinsek (UA) vs. #1 Toby Samuel/Connor Thomson (USC) 5-5

2 | #22 Jake Beasley/James Story (USC) def. Yair Sarouk/ German Samofalov (UA) 6-3

3 | Raphael Lambling/Casey Hoole (USC) def. Joao Ferrera/Matias Ponce De Leon (UA)  6-4

Single:

1 | #6 Toby Samuel (USC) def. Enzo Aguiard (UA) 6-2, 6-1

2 | #5 Connor Thomson (USC) def. Filip Planinsek (UA) 7-6 (3), 6-4

3 | #84 Raphael Lambling (USC) def. Matias Ponce De Leon (UA) 6-1, 2-6, 6-3

4 | James Story (USC) def. German Samofalov (UA) 6-4, 6-3

5 | #83 Casey Hoole (USC) def. Roan Jones (UA) 6-4, 5-7, 1-0 (3)

6 | Jake Beasley (USC) def. Yair Sarouk (UA) 6-3, 6-4

Get all the latest information on the team by following AlabamaMTN on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.