COLUMBIA, S.C. — For the third consecutive year, the eighth-ranked South Carolina men's tennis team will be hosting a regional at the Carolina Tennis Center.
The Gamecocks earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships for the 28th time in program history and the ninth time under head coach Josh Goffi.
South Carolina will play South Carolina State in the first round on Fri., May 5, at 2 p.m. The other first-round match in Columbia will feature Baylor and Florida State who will face off in the first match of the day at 11:00 a.m.
The Gamecocks will enter their sixth straight NCAA Tournament seeded ninth, the highest seed in program history.
South Carolina has four nationally ranked players in singles, including No. 9 Toby Samuel, No. 14 Connor Thomson, No. 99 Casey Hoole, and No. 115 Raphael Lambling. Samuel and Thomson were recently announced as All-SEC First Team members while junior James Story was announced as an All-SEC Second Team member.
The Gamecock squad holds eight top-25 wins this season with four in the top-10 including road wins at then-No. 5 Kentucky and then-No. 9 Wake Forest, a neutral site win over then-No. 10 Baylor, and a win at home over then-No. 4 Ohio State that propelled the Gamecocks to their highest team ranking in program history at No. 2. The No. 9 overall seed is the highest team tournament seeding in program history. The previous team-high was the No. 10 seed at the 2022 edition of the tournament.