Men’s tennis traveled to Columbia, South Carolina, over the weekend to compete in the Gamecock Fall Invitational.
The first day of events for the Bucs was back and forth with senior Sergi Fontcuberta (Barcelona, Spain) gaining a loss (6-4, 6-2) and a win (6-2, 7-5). Sophomore Frazier Rengifo (Cali, Columbia) went 1-1 in singles, winning with a score of 6-3, 6-4 and losing 7-5, 6-3.
Senior David Gonzalez (Barcelona, Spain) also went 1-1, winning with 6-4, 6-2 and losing 6-2, 6-1.
Sophomore Yusuf Khamis (Cairo, Egypt) had an incredible performance by going undefeated, winning 6-4, 6-3 and 7-6, 7-6.
The Bucs also competed in doubles with Gonzalez and Fontcuberta teaming up and winning 9-8, 10-8. Khamis and Rengifo ended the day with a win 8-5 to push the Bucs into the next round of play.
The second day of the invitational saw more success for the Bucs with big wins by Rengifo who won 6-3, 4-6, 11-9, and advanced to win 6-4, 3-6, 10-4. Other successes were Gonzalez and Fontcuberta, winning 8-2 in doubles competition once again.
In singles play, Fontcuberta had two wins for the day with 3-6, 6-2, 10-7. However, Gonzalez went 1-1, winning with 1-6, 6-4, 10-6 and losing 6-4, 2-6, 10-5.
Khamis and Freshman Adam O’ Shannessy (New South Wales, Australia) both played in singles competition but fell 6-0, 6-1 and 6-4, 6-3. With these invitationals going on, head coach Martin Stiegwardt has a positive mind set for the season ahead.
“Our goal is to win the regular season and break into the top seed,” said Stiegwardt. “The team this year is solid with most of the team being upperclassmen, and we want to fight for the top seed and hopefully break the top 50.”
Even though the regular season doesn’t start till the spring, it will be good to see what the Bucs have to offer in these invitationals matches.
The Bucs still have the rest of the fall season left to play, which ends at the first of November, and the regular season starts in January against Appalachian State.
The Bucs continue Invitational play in three weeks when they enter the ITA Regionals.
