Columbia, S.C. – No. 2 South Carolina men’s tennis will host Louisville, LSU, and rival Clemson for the ITA Kickoff Weekend on Sat., Jan. 27 and Sun., Jan. 29. The top-seeded Gamecocks will take on No. 4 seed Clemson on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. before the second-seeded Cardinals take on the three seed LSU at 1:00 p.m.

Sunday will bring the consolation match at 10:00 a.m. and the championships match at 1:00 p.m. The winner of the weekend will advance to the ITA Indoor National Championships in New York, New York, Feb. 16-19.

All matches will be played at the Carolina Indoor Tennis Center located at 523 Superior St. Admission and parking are free and matches are open to the public. Those not in attendance can watch the matches live here and view live stats here.

Broadcast coverage of South Carolina’s match versus Clemson and the regional final match will be provided by Cracked Racquets on ESPN+. The full list of Cracked Racquets coverage is available here.

This year marks the third consecutive season that South Carolina has been chosen to host Kickoff Weekend. The event is hosted by 15 sites across the country with 60 teams competing for 15 available spots at the ITA Indoor National Championships. The top 15 teams in the rankings at the end of the previous season are designated as hosts and teams at each site are selected via a summer draft.

Gamecock Notables

• South Carolina is ranked No. 2 in the nation going into the ITA Kickoff Weekend. The No. 2 ranking ties for highest ranking in program history with the team achieving the same ranking for one week of the 2023 season. The Gamecocks started the season ranked No. 5 in the preseason poll.
• South Carolina kickoff off the season by taking down then-No. 1 Virginia in Charlottesville in a comeback after dropping the doubles point. Freshman Sean Daryabeigi earned the clinch in a three-setter.
• Senior Toby Samuel has rejoined the team after taking the fall semester off. The Bournemouth, England, native won his first collegiate singles match since the 2023 NCAA Tournament quarterfinals over No. 22 Chris Rodesch of Virginia in a three-set comeback.
• 92 Casey Hoole is 13-9 on the season and earned a three-set win over Virginia’s Dylan Dietrich at the No. 2 spot in the lineup to start the dual season.
• Sophomore Lucas Andrade da Silva is 12-6 overall this season and also put a point on the board at Virginia in a three-set match at the No. 4 position.

Scouting Clemson

• The Tigers are off to a 2-0 start on the season with a 6-1 win over Brown and a 7-0 sweep of Citadel.
• Clemson is under new leadership this year with first-year head coach Brandon Wagner taking the reins in June of 2023.
• Freshmen Stewart Aronson and Marko Mesarovic enter the weekend as the reigning ACC Doubles Team of the Week after clinching the doubles point in both of Clemson’s matches.
• The Tiger pair of Maxwell Smith and Noa Vukadin are currently ranked No. 30 in the ITA Doubles Rankings

Scouting Louisville

• The Cardinals are off to a 3-0 start on the season with wins over Xavier, Bellarine, and a narrow 4-3 victory over Northwestern.
• Louisville is led by fifth-year senior Etienne Donnet who is currently ranked No. 16 in the ITA Singles Rankings. He is 8-2 overall this season and a perfect 2-0 from the top spot in the lineup.
• Donnet is joined it the ITA rankings by No. 56 Will Mayew. Mayew is 6-3 overall and 3-0 in dual play with wins at the Nos. 2, 3, and 4 positions.
• Freshman Miguel Avendano is the reigning ACC Freshman of the Week after going 3-0 in doubles and 1-0 in singles through the Cardinals first three matches.

Scouting LSU

• The Tigers are off to a 2-0 start to the season with sweeps of UL-Lafayette and New Orleans.
• Chen Dong and Julien Penzlin represent LSU in the ITA rankings together. The duo is No. 49 in the nation and have a 2-0 record.
• Stefan Latinovic had led the team from the No. 1 spot in the singles lineup where he is 2-0. Latinovic is 8-8 overall this season.

For all the latest South Carolina men’s tennis information, continue to follow GamecocksOnline.com or the team on social media (@GamecockMTennis).