NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Vanderbilt men’s tennis looks to shake off a two-match skid in a matchup against South Carolina for its SEC home opener on Thursday.
The Dores dropped contests to Auburn and No. 25 Alabama over the weekend to close a four-match road trip. Vandy trails 21-14 in the all-time series versus South Carolina; its last win against the Gamecocks came as a 5-2 result in 2018. The two programs briefly met at the ITA All-American Championships in September, with No. 82 Lucas Da Silva and Julian Sarr downing No. 43 Nathan Cox and Danil Panarin 6-3, 6-4.
Fifth year Henry Ruger is on a two-match singles win streak, sitting on a 5-2 record at No. 5 singles so far. He leads the Dores in singles wins with 13. In doubles, the Commodores still own an 8-6 record against nationally ranked opponents. Vanderbilt is a perfect 5-0 at home this season, building off a 10-6 home record from last year.
South Carolina comes into Nashville after suffering a 4-2 defeat at Kentucky on Sunday. However, the Gamecocks have already posted wins over then-No. 19 Alabama and Auburn, and reached as high as No. 15 in the team rankings earlier this season. Da Silva has a team-high 18 singles wins, although Conor Thomson is their highest ranked singles player at No. 57. Thomson netted his first ranked win of the season against the Wildcats in a 7-6 (3), 6-4 defeat of No. 81 Jack Loutit. South Carolina sits just outside the top 25 in doubles: Da Silva and Thomson make up the No. 26-ranked pairing.
No. 39 Vanderbilt (8-5, 1-3 SEC) hosts No. 43 South Carolina (8-4, 2-1 SEC) tomorrow in its SEC home opener, with play set to begin at 2 p.m. Live streaming will be available online, and live stats are accessible here at the start of the match. For more information, updates and exclusive game day content, follow the Vanderbilt men’s tennis team, @VandyMTennis, on Instagram and X.
