RALEIGH, N.C. — A stellar Old Dominion men’s tennis season came to an end on Friday afternoon as 16th-ranked South Carolina defeated the 54th-ranked Monarchs 4-1 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center at N.C. State.
ODU (20-8) recorded the first 20-win season for head coach Dominik Mueller and pushed the Gamecocks in a match that went over two and a half hours. “Nothing but proud of this team. These guys fought and we were in it on every court. If you were there you knew this wasn’t a 4-1 match. If we extend this match 15-20 minutes, it could be 3-3 and last match. End of the day these guys made this program better. National ranking moved up 20 spots, repeated as champs and we were very competitive in the first round compared to last year,” said Mueller.
In doubles, South Carolina recorded the team point with a 6-3 win at No. 1 and a 6-4 win at No. 3. Singles saw the Gamecocks take a 2-0 lead as sixth-ranked Toby Samuel defeated Cosme Rolland de Ravel 6-2, 6-4.
ODU bounced back and cut the deficit to 2-1 as Aryan Saleh defeated Carter Morgan 6-0, 6-3 at No. 6. South Carolina won the last two matches 6-4, 6-3 at No. 4 and 6-4, 7-5 at No. 5 to take the dual win.
The Monarchs were ahead at No. 2 where Connor van Schalkwyk held a second-set lead on 97th-ranked James Story 5-3 after falling 7-6 (9-7) in the first set. Yanis Moundir was up 6-4, 1-6, 5-2 and ready to serve at No. 3 against Sean Daryabeigi.
