Raleigh, N.C. – No. 16 South Carolina men’s tennis came out on the right side of a nearly five-hour marathon match on Saturday to advance to the Round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament. The Gamecocks knocked off host and 14th-ranked NC State 4-3 in Raleigh to book their ticket to the Super Regionals for the fourth consecutive season.
At the No. 1 court in doubles, it was all Gamecocks with No. 43 Toby Samuel and James Story claiming a pair of early breaks to lead 5-1 and serve the match out 6-2.
The next doubles court to complete was at the No. 3 position where NC State’s Fons Van Sambeek and Braden Shick defeated Sean Daryabeigi and Casey Hoole 6-2.
The decision fell to the No. 2 court where the freshman and sophomore duo of Jelani Sarr and Lucas Andrade da Silva were taking on the junior and senior pair of Joseph Wayand and Robin Catry. The Wolfpack pair claimed an early break to take the lead 3-1, but the Gamecock GRIT prevailed with the underclassmen duo rallying to take the next five games to win the match 6-3 and clinch the doubles point.
During the break between doubles and singles, rain began in Raleigh, forcing the match to be moved indoors. The NC State facility only has four courts available so the top of the lineup began singles matches with the remaining players watching on.
The first match to finish was at the No. 2 position where No. 101 Hoole made his return to the singles lineup but fell 6-3, 6-2 to No. 74 Shick to tie the match at 1-1.
The Wolfpack also took the match at the No. 3 position to lead 2-1. No. 123 Luca Staeheli claimed the point over No. 97 Story 6-4, 6-0.
Shortly after, No. 6 Samuel tied the match up for the Gamecocks with his win from the top of the lineup. He defeated No. 54 Catry 7-5, 6-1 for his 21st victory of the season and 98th of his career.
The first wave of matches finally concluded with another win for South Carolina. Daryabeigi recorded the fourth ranked win of his young career with a strong performance over No. 72 Van Sambeek. The freshman is now 26-14 on the season and a perfect 4-0 in postseason singles matches.
With the Gamecocks leading 3-2, the remaining two matches began play with Sarr taking on Damien Salvestre at the No. 5 position and Da Silva facing Jakub Katuch at No. 6.
The No. 5 match was first to conclude with the freshman Sarr unable to find a way against the junior Salvestre with the win going to the Wolfpack 6-2, 6-3 to even the match at 3-3.
The decision fell into the hands of Da…