Oxford, Miss. – No. 6 South Carolina men’s tennis defeated No. 32 Ole Miss 5-2 in Oxford on Friday. The Gamecocks took the doubles point and four of six doubles matches for the victory.
In doubles, the No. 3 pair of Raphael Lambling and Casey Hoole were the first to pick up a win, defeating their opponents 6-3. The point was clinched from the top spot in the lineup where No. 1 Toby Samuel and Connor Thomson perfectly timed a break to win their match 6-4.
Play transitioned to singles and matches were only a few games in when play was paused due to rain. Matches attempted to resume outdoors, but the weather ultimately forced the match to be moved inside.
Once indoors, freshman Lucas da Silva was first to clear his court, defeating his opponent Isac Stromberg in dominating fashion, 6-2, 6-2. The wins marks Da Silva’s second career SEC victory in his early career.
The Rebels responded with a singles win of the own, taking the match on Court 4 to pull the match within one at 2-1.
Lambling was the next Gamecock to record a win. The Paris, France, native won his match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1 for his second singles win in as many matches.
The Rebels again responded with a singles win to draw the match within one at 3-2, taking the match on Court 5.
Samuel was finally able to clinch the match for South Carolina. The No. 3-ranked junior defeated No. 66 Nikola Slavic in a pair of gritty sets, taking the first in a tiebreak 7-6(4) and the second with a 7-5 decision.
The final match on was Thomson who battled from behind after dropping his first set 3-6. The No. 8-ranked Gamecock came back to take the second set 6-4 and with the overall match already clinched, the final set was played as a ten-point tiebreaker. The tiebreaker was a close one with Thomson ultimately coming out on top 10-7 to extend his singles win streak to four.
The men’s tennis team will return home for their next matches, hosting Georgia and Tennessee next Friday and Sunday. Friday’s match versus Georgia will be South Carolina’s Staff Appreciation Day while Sunday’s match versus Tennessee will be Family Day.
For all the latest South Carolina men’s tennis information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).
(6) South Carolina 5, (32) Ole Miss 2
Doubles (order of finish: 3, 1)
- #1 Connor Thomson/Toby Samuel (SC) def. J. Hallquist Lithen/Simon Junk (OM-M) 6-4
- Lukas Engelhardt/Isac Stromberg (OM-M) vs. #43 Jake Beasley/James Story…