COLUMBIA, S.C. — The No. 8 University of South Carolina men’s tennis team advanced to the Round of 16 of the NCAA Tournament with a 4-1 win over 18th-ranked Florida State Saturday afternoon at the Carolina Tennis Center.
The Gamecocks improve to 21-6 on the season with the victory and advance to the round of 16 next week where they will face the winner of Sunday’s match between Wake Forest and Tennessee.
After securing the doubles point, South Carolina earned its second point of the match courtesy of #1 singles where Toby Samuel showed why he is ranked in the top 10 in the country, rolling past seventh-ranked Antoine Cornut-Chauvinc, 6-1, 6-1, at the top of the lineup to give Carolina a 2-0 advantage.
FSU got on the board at No. 4 singles when Joshua Dous-Karpenschif knocked off Raphael Lambling in straight sets by identical 6-4 scores.
The remaining four matches all went to a deciding third set. Casey Hoole, ranked No. 102 in the country, gave the Gamecocks their third point of the match with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 win over Andreja Petrovic at No. 5 singles.
Connor Thomson earned Carolina’s final point at No. 2 singles. After dropping the first set, 7-6, Thomson used a pair of service breaks in the final set to rally for a 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 win over Loris Pourroy, sending the Gamecocks to the round of 16.