COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Intercollegiate Tennis Association released its annual regional rankings on Friday with South Carolina’s men’s tennis senior Toby Samuel at the top of the singles rankings.
Samuel was recently named an All-American for the second consecutive season and the third time in his career after he led South Carolina with a 21-6 overall record at #1 singles with 14 of his wins coming against ranked opponents. He also became the first player in program history to post a undefeated SEC record as he went 10-0 against conference opponents.
In the doubles rankings, Samuel and Casey Hoole finished third in the region and ranked as high as No. 9 in the nation during the regular season. The pair went 9-6 overall and were selected to represent the program at the NCAA Doubles Tournament in Stillwater, Okla.
Hoole finished 11th in the region rankings with James Story coming in 12th. The trio of Gamecocks also accounted for two entries in the regional doubles rankings with Samuel and Hoole coming in at No. 3 and Samuel and Story coming in at No. 9.
Head coach Josh Goffi's team would end the season ranked No. 15 in the nation and No. 3 in the region, following only Wake Forest and Duke. Overall, the South Carolina men’s tennis team went 19-15 this season with a 14-13 record during regular season matches. The team made a deep run in the post-season, becoming the lowest seed to ever make the SEC Tournament finals as the No. 11 seed. Carolina went on the road and upset host N.C. State to advance to the Super Regionals of the NCAA Tournament.
On the women's side, the Gamecocks finished third in the Carolina Region Rankings with senior Ayana Akli ranked third in the individual rankings. Akli went 28-11 with 15 of her wins over ranked opponents.
In the fall she finished as the national runner-up at the ITA Fall National Championships and in the spring she went 14-6 in dual matches with an 11-6 mark at the top of the lineup.
Following Akli in the regional rankings is junior Sarah Hamner who finished No. 6. Hamner led the team in singles this season with a 32-9 overall record. She went 18-3 in dual play and set the program record for best single season SEC record at 10-1.
Together, the duo of Akli and Hamner are ranked No. 4 in the region and went 11-10 and 7-5 in dual matches. The pair claimed six wins over ranked opponents this season with their highest over then-No. 8 Aysegul Mert and Dasha Vidmanova of Georgia.
Overall, the womens tennis team went 17-8 this season and 8-5 in SEC play. They defended their home courts with an 11-1 record at home and four wins over top-25 opponents. They earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the 29th consecutive year.
