South Carolina Faces Alabama Saturday

March 31, 2017

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The No. 21 Gamecocks face Alabama on the road Saturday, April 1 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. at the Alabama Tennis Stadium at 2 p.m. CT, the match is the only one for South Carolina this weekend.

South Carolina added a 2-0 record last weekend, taking down No. 41 Vanderbilt, 4-2, and No. 23 Kentucky, 4-3. The weekend’s victories increased the Gamecocks’ SEC win streak to four, the most consecutive league wins since 2013.

Gamecock Notables

• South Carolina is 16-4 overall and 5-2 in SEC play this season.
• Junior Harrison O’Keefe was named SEC Athlete of the Week for the second straight week after taking down the highest ranked opponent of his career and breaking a 3-3 tie with No. 23 Kentucky.
• O’Keefe is ranked No. 88 in singles play with a 15-5 record overall and 5-2 record in the conference.
• The doubles pairing of O’Keefe and Yancy Dennis come in at No. 47 in the rankings, taking four consecutive SEC wins and improving their overall record to 14-4.
• Freshman Paul Jubb maintained a perfect record this spring, adding two wins last weekend to increase his streak to 8-0, 4-0 in the SEC.
• Junior Gabriel Friedrich is ranked No. 59 nationally, maintaining a top-60 ranking since his Feb. 21 ranking of No. 43.
• Friedrich added a top-25 win last weekend over No. 24 Ryotaro Matsumura of Kentucky, it was his first ranked win since taking down No. 54 Jolan Cailleau of Texas Tech on Feb. 24.

Quick Hits: Alabama

• The Crimson Tide is 8-13 in the spring and 1-7 in the league this season.
• Alabama is coming off of a 4-0 loss to Florida on March 30. After playing South Carolina Saturday, the Tide will face Jackson St. to close out their home schedule.
• Ranked singles: Mazen Osama (35) and Thibault Cancel (105).
• Ranked doubles: Osama and Spencer Richey (40).
• Freshman Edson Ortiz leads the team in singles win with 10 victories from the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5 singles positions.
• Head coach George Husack has been with the Crimson Tide since 2012.

Up Next

After Saturday’s competition, the Gamecocks will continue their SEC road slate to face Tennessee in Knoxville on Friday, April 7 and Georgia in Athens, Ga. on Sunday, April 9. For more information on South Carolina men’s tennis follow the team on Twitter and Instagram at gamecockMtennis or check in at GamecocksOnline.com.