South Carolina Tennis Sweeps Clemson in Impressive Fashion

Any victory over that team from the Upstate of South Carolina is sweet for the Gamecocks. A beatdown, though, is something special. On Friday, South Carolina tennis traveled from the state capital up I-26 to I-85 until arriving at the Duckworth Family Tennis Facility in Clemson, South Carolina and promptly upended the Tigers in extremely impressive fashion. The eighth-ranked Gamecocks will almost certainly experience a rise in the rankings after knocking fellow undefeated program Clemson off of their (previously) unblemished record.

South Carolina started their hardcourt onslaught by winning the doubles point against the Tigers, powered by a solid performance by the Gamecocks’ All-American National Championship doubles team of Connor Thomson and Toby Samuel that extended their perfect doubles record to 9-0 on the season. After that victory, the Gamecocks won all six of their singles matchups to finish the sweep by an overall final score of 7-0.

The official Gamecock Men’s Tennis Twitter account showed how pumped the team was for the dominant win over their in-state rivals.

Head Coach Josh Goffi added to his legend with this weekend’s rivalry demolition. Goffi, in 2019, coached Paul Jubb on his way to an upset victory in the NCAA Singles National Championship. Also coached by Goffi, juniors Thomson and Samuel, ranked as the number 1 doubles partnership by some publications, won the All-American National Championship together in the fall. For individual players this spring season, Toby Samuel is ranked #15, and sophomore Casey Hoole is the 56th-ranked player in the nation.

The seventh straight victory for Carolina in the tennis edition of the rivalry series extends their all-time lead in the series to 70-42-2. The victory secured a point for the South Carolina Gamecocks in the Palmetto Series showdown with the Tigers, something the men’s tennis team has accomplished every season since the official Series began in 2015.